The brutal death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police has re-energized a national debate over misconduct by law enforcement officials that the Supreme Court may be poised to enter.
The justices could announce as early as Monday that they will consider whether law enforcement and other officials continue to deserve “qualified immunity” that protects them from being sued for official actions.
“It’s a vivid and tragic example of our culture of near-zero accountability for police officers,” says Jay Schweikert, a criminal justice analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute, one of the leading advocacy groups seeking to limit or eliminate qualified immunity. “People understand that officers are rarely held to account.”