Wednesday, May 28, 2014

4 New U.S. Supreme Court decisions

Looks like the Justices may have worked over the holidays.  4 decisions were released.  3 of these were CJ related.  the most interesting was:
"Plumhoff v. Rickard
Is fifteen shots too many to stop a police chase? Apparently not.
A defendant took off, leading to a high-speed chase across state lines. At one point, he was boxed in but continued to try to get away. Officers fired fifteen shots at the car, while it was trapped, and then while it was successfully getting away. The driver and a passenger both died.
Excessive force? Not so much, per the majority. Seven justices concurred with Alito's assessment that, "It stands to reason that, if police officers are justified in firing at a suspect in order to end a severe threat to public safety, the officers need not stop shooting until the threat has ended."
Justices Ginsburg and Breyer declined to join that portion of the opinion, but all nine justices agreed that regardless, qualified immunity applied, since it was not clearly established that a barrage of fifteen bullets might be too many."  This makes sense to me.  However, the interests of innocent people and non-dangerous suspects must be accommodated.

2 comments:

  1. If shooting is justified at all, one should fire shots until the threat is ended. One shot, fifteen shots, one hundred shots: It's a function of hits, not shots.

    Art

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