The SCOTUS issued an opinion in Egbert v. Boule this week, which made clear that it’s close to impossible to sue federal law enforcement officers for civil rights violations. They essentially declared that border patrol agents have absolute immunity from civil liability due to “national security” grounds. There is some traditional basis of “Bivens” liability still in existence for non-border related law enforcement police-type activities, but for reasons I’ve explained before, it’s hardly worth pursuing anyways….
Also, more shockingly, the First Circuit issued an opinion en banc in U.S. v. Moore-Bush, which found that it probably was not a “search” under the Fourth Amendment for ATF agents to set up a 24/7 live feed camera on a utility pole outside a suspect’s home for a period of 8 months. This was a criminal case dispute over suppression issues.
The way things are going in this country,the police and courts are being looked at with scorn. What will happen is anyones guess.
This is a real shame. There are so many contradictions in this ruling. First, it’s ironic that the court considers the border patrol a “national security” issue when the Biden administration does not seem to accept, based on their policy, that securing the border is in fact national security. But they dont want their officers prosecuted claiming national security as the basis. Rediculous.
Further, the court better get it together. The people expect the court to be the final place to protect their civil rights when others in government fail to do so. So when that last option fails, history shows us that there is ultimately another last step. The people will result to take matters into their own hands, possibly invoking their Second Amendment rights to defend themselves against tyrannical agents, including law enforcement officials.
These LEOs better get it together amongst themselves to respect the peoples civil rights or they might find themselves in a world turned totally against them. And the judges better fix their crap as well or they will be in the same boat. If that happens, we will all find ourselves in a world we dont recognize.