Written by: Phillip E. Friduss, Esq. Excellent WSJ article below on qualified immunity by Jess Bravin and Brent Kendall. Well-rounded, and evenhanded. Hard to find that out there. Do note the quotation in the final sentence re de facto non-liability for police entities – it is not necessarily true. As a statement of law, it is absolutely not true. As a statement of reality, at least the quote has a

Written by: Phillip E. Friduss, Esq. Thus is the title of Adam Liptak’s New York Times coverage of the Ohio inmate transfer case, Williams v Wilson case we reported on last week. The piece begins: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused a request from the Trump administration to block a trial judge’s ruling that had ordered federal prison officials to take steps to protect more than 800 older or medically

Written by: Jennifer Dorminey Herzog, Esq. Because of policies of mass incarceration over the past four decades, the United States has incarcerated more people than any other country on Earth.[1]  Highly transmissible novel respiratory pathogens pose a challenge for incarcerated populations because of the ease with which they spread in congregate settings.[2]  The stage is set.  Enter COVID-19. I. COVID-19 "Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe

Written by: Phillip E. Friduss, Esq. Ready, set, stop. Of the 13 qualified immunity cases discussed at last Friday's Conference, the Supreme Court continued 10 of them, and this morning denied cert to the other 3. We all want to read Reuters May 8th offering, For Cops Who Kill, Special Supreme Court Protection, a sharp-edged report on qualified immunity with updated statistics. The statistics belie the notion that qualified immunity

Written by: Phillip E. Friduss, Esq. The United States Supreme Court has given the State of Texas until Friday to respond to inmate suit over current jail health conditions, specifically with respect to handling of COVID-19 issues.  The case is in large part on behalf of the older prisoners.  The District Court granted inmates relief, but the 5th Circuit reversed, citing the all-too familiar concept that corrections health officials’

Written by: Phillip E. Friduss, Esq. Our Supreme Court Justices are about to sit down to an unprecedented feast of qualified immunity.  That feast will be served during its May 15 conference, where the Court will consider thirteen different qualified immunity cert petitions, several of which that have been specifically rescheduled to that date.  We will have a much better feel on May 18, when the Justices are likely

Written by: Phillip E. Friduss, Esq. This column originally appeared in the June 2017 issue of the Georgia's Cities newspaper. After suffering from brain freeze and writer’s block just days before my deadline, and on the verge of writing some mundane offering on the differences between ministerial and discretionary acts—Boom! Just when I think I’ve heard it all, something new just crash lands into my inbox; a case about a

This article originally appeared in the September 2016 issue of the Georgia's Cities Magazine. Written by: Phillip E. Friduss, Esq. State v. Newcomb, 359 Or. 756 (2016) Act I: Juno Rescued  Amanda Newcomb is out of money. Because of that, she is unable to regularly feed her dog, Juno. Her neighbor, apparently follow­ing Juno’s plight, calls the Oregon Hu­mane Society, and so begins the saga. Enter Special Agent Austin Wallace, an animal

Written by: Phillip E. Friduss, Esq. Action from the Barren Chambers Monday morning as the Supreme Court handed down a pro-law enforcement ruling in Kansas v. Glover.  Lighting Round Facts - Officer on road runs tag.  License plate and truck belong to Glover, who has a suspended license.  Pull over  Arrest. Game on, as the trial court grant's Glover's motion to suppress. Glover's suppression argument was grounded on the argument 

Written by: Phillip E. Friduss, Esq. Gun store Clyde Armory has sued Athens-Clarke County, Georgia over its shelter-in-place ordinance. The suit claims that that the ordinance is an overstep of power and violates the equal protection and due process clauses as well as the right to bear arms in both the U.S. and Georgia constitutions. At first, gun stores were not identified as essential businesses under the Ordinance, only