Suspicious_Bicycle t1_j9mxo0l wrote on February 23, 2023 at 2:58 AM

Reply to comment by hurrrrrmione in Supreme Court rejects man’s bid to sue police over arrest for Facebook parody by sue_me_please

It's rulings like this that incentivize the police to NOT learn the law. Police: "I thought it was illegal and was never trained otherwise." SCOTUS: "All righty then, it's a good bust."

jabba-du-hutt t1_j9nmcm6 wrote on February 23, 2023 at 6:48 AM

And this is what kills me when it comes to educating my kids about how police are aloud to behave in the US. "Law enforcement" means you are enforcing the law. You can't enforce the law if you don't know what it is.

"Oh. I thought the speed limit for that section of road was 25mph. I thought it was a bit odd everyone was going 20 over, but... Oh well! Lucky me!"

"I thought it was illegal for a black man to walk around town in a red hoody. So, arrested him for possession of meth, even though he had nothing on him. Oh. He's also dead because I accidently shot him four times in the back with what I thought was my taser while he was handcuffed and in my car."

SCOTUS: Yup. Seems legit.

Squire_II t1_j9ow8bj wrote on February 23, 2023 at 3:08 PM

> It's rulings like this that incentivize the police to NOT learn the law.

That's intended. The entire idea of qualified immunity is a judicially-created concept. It has no basis in law itself since Congress once considered it and then explicitly decided not to implement the idea.

However, since the judiciary in the US has never had its continued self-granted expanse of power checked by other branches, these kinds of abuses continue and will continue.