Supreme Court Justice - Courts Too Easy on Cops
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Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor says that she sees ‘disturbing trend’ of unequal treatment regarding police, alleged victims.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote Monday that the court is developing a “disturbing trend” of siding with police officers accused of excessive force at the expense of their alleged victims, a notion disputed by two of her colleagues.
Sotomayor was arguing that the court should have accepted the case of Richardo Salazar-Limon, who was shot in the back by Houston police officer Chris Thompson in 2010. A federal district judge dismissed Salazar-Limon’s suit before trial, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld that decision.
What happened in the incident that left Salazar-Limon crippled is disputed, Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, and a decision on which man is telling the truth should be made by “a jury sitting as finder of fact, not a judge reviewing a paper record.”
Her colleagues’ failure to accept the case “continues a disturbing trend regarding the use of this court’s resources,” Sotomayor wrote in an opinion joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“We have not hesitated to summarily reverse courts for wrongly denying officers the protection of qualified immunity in cases involving the use of force,” Sotomayor said. “But we rarely intervene where courts wrongly afford officers the benefit of qualified immunity in these same cases.”
That drew a rebuttal from Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who was joined by Justice Clarence Thomas. Sotomayor cited five cases, Alito wrote, but “in all but one of those cases there was no published dissent.” She “has not identified a single case in which we failed to grant a similar petition filed by an alleged victim of unconstitutional police conduct.”
Sotomayor said her colleagues were “sanctioning a ‘shoot first, think later’ approach.”
This is why it is so important on who the President is and picks to be in the Supreme Court. These are subtle ideologies that will remain and make decisions for 20 or more years.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/supreme-court-sonia-sotomayor-police-abuses_us_58fe322fe4b06b9cb9190067
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote Monday that the court is developing a “disturbing trend” of siding with police officers accused of excessive force at the expense of their alleged victims, a notion disputed by two of her colleagues.
Sotomayor was arguing that the court should have accepted the case of Richardo Salazar-Limon, who was shot in the back by Houston police officer Chris Thompson in 2010. A federal district judge dismissed Salazar-Limon’s suit before trial, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld that decision.
What happened in the incident that left Salazar-Limon crippled is disputed, Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, and a decision on which man is telling the truth should be made by “a jury sitting as finder of fact, not a judge reviewing a paper record.”
Her colleagues’ failure to accept the case “continues a disturbing trend regarding the use of this court’s resources,” Sotomayor wrote in an opinion joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“We have not hesitated to summarily reverse courts for wrongly denying officers the protection of qualified immunity in cases involving the use of force,” Sotomayor said. “But we rarely intervene where courts wrongly afford officers the benefit of qualified immunity in these same cases.”
That drew a rebuttal from Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who was joined by Justice Clarence Thomas. Sotomayor cited five cases, Alito wrote, but “in all but one of those cases there was no published dissent.” She “has not identified a single case in which we failed to grant a similar petition filed by an alleged victim of unconstitutional police conduct.”
Sotomayor said her colleagues were “sanctioning a ‘shoot first, think later’ approach.”
This is why it is so important on who the President is and picks to be in the Supreme Court. These are subtle ideologies that will remain and make decisions for 20 or more years.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/supreme-court-sonia-sotomayor-police-abuses_us_58fe322fe4b06b9cb9190067
Comments
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Wow, check that out - finally something I can respect from one of these judges.
AND she was appointed by Barack Obama. Good ? . -
Good ? !
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? Clarence Thomas
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Cool I'll believe it when they actually punish these race soldiers. Until then it's nothing more than symbolism to acknowledge the problem and to many black people that's good enough.
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I hate to do this but.. "voting doesnt matter"
in all seriousness this was said countless times what was and perpetually is at stake when you don't participate in the process.. not voting is voting...... -
This is why Clarence Thomas is the model for a ? . Dude is literally in the best position of probably any black person to make a stand against police brutality, and he has consistently been against any attempt to fix the problem. Crazy.
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I concur...
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Latin excellence
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She betta shut her mouth! Wasn't the Judge who was found by the River " Known" 2 go hard on Police Unions? They'll leave her Rican ass stanking somewhere. U ? with The Clique man! They don't adapt to or tolerate change too well and can get away with those who make them miserable come up missing.
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We know that. What's going to be done about it?
