Qualified Immunity. This can't be real.
Okay so at this point we can all agree that police brutality is real, racist, systemic, frequent, inhumane and unconstitutional. But are you also wondering how and why this continues to be a problem, with seemingly NO changes? Let us introduce you to the really ugly term, Qualified Immunity.
The qualified immunity doctrine was first introduced to the U.S. Supreme court in 1967. It gives protection to government officials from being held personally liable for their constitutional violations, meaning they remain protected from facing the legal consequences anyone else might. Continuously, qualified immunity keeps police brutality from being punished by the courts, in fact, the sheer existence of qualified immunity might contribute to how much law enforcement seems to love violating people’s constitutional rights.
In short, no wonder cops act as if they’re above the law, they kind of are.
Since 2018, there’s been a number of court challenges to qualified immunity in the last few years. This June, several cases involving the doctrine were awaiting a Supreme Court decision, and you know what they did? Decided not to review it and passed it on congress to deal with. Which is ridiculous when you consider that they’re ones who introduced this dumpster fire of a doctrine back in 1967? AND when there’s MULTIPLE cases on the long list of lower-court decisions that involve it? SMH. Maybe it was too big of a week for them seeing they finally gave LGBTQ+ people the right to not be fired based on their identities? Anyways, we digress.
If you (like us) are wondering how it’s been three months since Breonna Taylor was murdered by Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly, Detective Brett Hankison, and Sergeant Myles Cosgrove of the Louisville Metro Police Department, qualified immunity and misogynoir are definitely at play.
While we’ve got you here, Breonna Taylor deserves justice, and until we see it, do these three things every damn day:
Call Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron @ 1 (502) 696-5300 and demand he charge the 3 officers with murder
Call Interim Police Chief Robert Schroeder @ 1 (502) 574-7660 and demand the investigation be completed immediately and turned over to Breonna Taylor’s Lawyers and Attorney General
Send Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer a message demanding he fire the officers who murdered Breonna Taylor here