Tell your Senators: Ending Qualified Immunity is Essential to the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act
Call BOTH of your Senators.
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Call Script
Short Phone Version:
Hi, my name is _____ and I live in ZIP code _____ and I’m a member of Indivisible SF.
Do not weaken The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (GFJPA) by compromising on ending Qualified Immunity. The GFJPA received zero Republican votes in the House, and McConnell has promised zero Republican votes in the senate. Don’t remove this vital component just to get 2 or 3 Republican maybes.
Longer Email/ResistBot Version:
Hi, my name is _____ and I live in ZIP code _____ and I’m a member of Indivisible SF.
Do not weaken The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (GFJPA) by compromising on Ending Qualified Immunity. Tuesday was the one year anniversary of George Floyd’s killing, in which former officer Chauvin’s brazen behavior demonstrated to us all the importance of ending qualified immunity. The barbaric murder of Ronald Greene, covered up for 2 years, is another stark example of how brutal police can be when they are protected from personal financial liability.
The GFJPA received zero Republican votes in the House, and McConnell has promised zero Republican votes in the Senate for anything President Biden wants. Don’t remove this vital component just to get 2 or 3 Republican maybes. We understand Whip Clyburn’s point that a GFJPA without ending qualified immunity would still save lives, by banning chokeholds, ending no-knock warrants for drug arrests, collecting data on police use of force, and other measures, and a good bill is always better than no bill at all. However, what reason is there to believe that a greatly weakened GFJPA would deliver enough Republican votes to make a difference?
We have said that Black Lives Matter, police departments have held hours of training on racial bias, and cities have spent more than $3 billion over the past 10 years on police misconduct settlements, and yet unarmed Black people continue to be murdered with impunity. Ending qualified immunity so that officers are subjected to personal liability for their brutality would make a dramatic difference in their impulsive use of fatal force.
Background
The legal doctrine of “Qualified Immunity” means that victims of police brutality and malfeasance cannot sue for damages in civil court so long as the officials did not violate “clearly established” law. The case that defined the modern formulation of qualified immunity in practice today is Harlow v Fitzgerald of 1982. While the Court said it was designed to protect public officials more than the previous standards had, it was not supposed to “provide a license for lawless conduct.” Unfortunately, since Harlow, the Court has applied Qualified Immunity in ways that make it tilt significantly in favor of government defendants, so we are unlikely to get a remedy through the Roberts Court. (*8) In fact, in June of 2020, The Court declined to hear cases over Qualified Immunity (*9)
Justice Sotomayor described The Court’s approach to Qualified Immunity this way in her famous Dissent (co-signed by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg) in Kinsela v Hughes, 2019 (reversing lower court ruling against police shooting a girl who had a knife).
“This unwarranted summary reversal is symptomatic of ‘a disturbing trend regarding the use of the Court’s resources in qualified immunity cases.’ As I have previously noted, this Court displays an unflinching willingness ‘to summarily reverse courts for wrongly denying officers the protection of qualified immunity,’ but rarely intervenes where Courts wrongly afford officers the benefit of qualified immunity in these same cases.’ ...Such a one-sided approach to qualified immunity turns the doctrine into an absolute shield for law enforcement officers, gutting the deterrent effect of the 4th Amendment.
“The majority today exacerbates that troubling asymmetry. It is not just wrong on the law; it also sends an alarming signal to law enforcement officers and the public. It tells officers that they can shoot first and think later, and it tells the public that palpably unreasonable conduct will go unpunished. Because there is nothing right or just under the law about this, I respectfully dissent.” (*10)
Therefore, we need Congress to keep this provision in the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act, and get all Democrats to support its passage in the Senate. Police misconduct has been excused through Qualified Immunity for far too long.
References (*)
States tackling 'qualified immunity' for police as Congress squabbles over the issue https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/23/politics/qualified-immunity-police-reform/index.html
House progressives urge leaders to end qualified immunity as part of police reform plan https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/21/police-reform-progressives-urge-end-to-qualified-immunity-in-george-floyd-bill.html
Ending Qualified Immunity Once and For All is the Next Step in Holding Police Accountable https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/ending-qualified-immunity-once-and-for-all-is-the-next-step-in-holding-police-accountable/
Clyburn says he's willing to compromise on qualified immunity in policing bill https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/552550-clyburn-says-hes-willing-to-compromise-on-qualified-immunity-in
The House has passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act
https://www.vox.com/2021/3/3/22295856/george-floyd-justice-in-policing-act-2021-passed-house
Cities Spend Millions On Police Misconduct Every Year. Here’s Why It’s So Difficult to Hold Departments Accountable.https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/police-misconduct-costs-cities-millions-every-year-but-thats-where-the-accountability-ends.
We Must Abolish Qualified Immunity to Prevent Further Police Harm — Especially for People in Mental Health Crises
What Is Qualified Immunity, and What Does It Have to Do With Police Reform?
https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-qualified-immunity-and-what-does-it-have-do-police-reform
Supreme Court declines to hear cases over legal doctrine qualified immunity, which shields police from lawsuits
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/15/supreme-court-declines-to-hear-cases-over-qualified-immunity.html
SCOTUS Ruling in Kinsela v Hughes, 2019