Dear colleagues— I agree that the opinion is well worth reading. The qualified immunity doctrine is indeed very problematic. You might also be interested in the following perspective on the case, by an expert in the field, who shares concerns about the
doctrine in general but believes that the trial judge misapplied the doctrine on the actual facts:
Best,
Ken Simons
Dear Peter and list
This is a very important account for those of us outside the USA who may not (as I was not) have been aware of how the doctrine of qualified immunity has developed to the point where its level of protection of police is immense. It really does
explain how police in the US (though it doesn’t explain sometimes similar behaviour of police in Australia) have felt immune when carrying out appalling behaviour against black people and indeed non-blacks as well.
It is also a very interesting example of the manipulation of the doctrine of precedent so that a law which was designed to protect X against Y turns into a law which actually protects Y against X. This is not unknown in the doctrine of precedent
( another example is in the development of the doctrine of dependent relative revocation of wills) but this is a particularly egregious example considering the clear purpose of the original rules.
Very much worth reading.
Cheers
Prue
Professor Prue Vines • FAAL• FSEA • Associate Dean (Education)• Co-Director Private Law Research & Policy Group • Faculty of Law • The University of New South Wales • UNSW Sydney NSW 2052, Australia • Phone: +61 (2) 9385 2236• Email: p.vines@unsw.edu.au •
Fax: +61 (2) 9385 1175
Latest books: (with Legg and Chan, eds) The Impact of Technology ad Innovation on the Wellbeing of the Legal Profession (Intersentia,
2020); (with Golder, Nehme and Steel, eds) Imperatives of Legal Education (Routledge, 2019); Scott Donald and
Prue Vines (eds),Statutory interpretation in Private Law (Federation Press, 2019)
This is not a standard torts case but it is sort of a torts case, and a powerful one at that. Longish though it is it well worth a read.
Professor Peter Radan,
Honorary Professor, Macquarie University
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law
BA, LLB, PhD (Syd), Dip Ed (Syd CAE)
Macquarie Law School
6 First Walk,
Macquarie University, NSW, 2109
Australia
Kenneth W. Simons
Chancellor’s Professor of Law