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GOP Bill Makes Suing Cops For Civil Rights Violations Really Tough

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...tion=black-voices&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000051

WASHINGTON ― A pair of bills introduced in the House and the Senate would make assaulting law enforcement officers a federal offense and suing cops for civil rights violations more difficult.

Under the Back the Blue Act, introduced on May 16 by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in the Senate and Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) in the House, suing cops in federal court for violating the constitutional rights of civilians will be limited.

The bill introduced in the Senate states that individuals who were “engaged in felonies or crimes of violence” would be blocked from receiving damages for any violations that occurred during “any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in the judicial capacity of that officer.”

So, even if the individual can prove their rights were violated by an officer, police departments would be able to claim an individual’s injuries were a result of that person’s conduct which, to quote the bill, “more likely than not, constituted a felony or a crime of violence.”

Giving police officers the ability to falsify claims of an individual injuries, what could go wrong?

Not like there is a history of police departments falsifying testimonies only to walk back on them. /s
 
I can't help but feel this is unconstitutional. Is it not true that rights don't magically vanish just because you are accused of a crime?
 

Beartruck

Member
So according to this bill, a cop could hit himself claim you did It, and arrest you for a felony? No way this passes legal muster.
 
I can't help but feel this is unconstitutional. Is it not true that rights don't magically vanish just because you are accused of a crime?

Yeah, I have a feeling this one will probably get struck down in court. I mean, if I'm reading this right, it literally and blatantly strips away constitutional rights...just 'cus. I don't really see how this stands up under any real scrutiny
 

Kreed

Member
If the new bill were to go into effect, federal prosecutors would have full discretion to overrule a state or local court if “the verdict or sentence obtained pursuant to State charges left demonstratively unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence” or if “a prosecution by the United States is in the public interest and necessary to secure substantial justice.”

"Leave it to the states" huh?
 
Since this isn't a budget bill, too, it can be filibustered once it comes up for a vote, right? Get on that phone to your Dem Reps, BlueGAF, tell them to bust it out
 

Derwind

Member
So they're trying to give more leeway than they already have to fabricate an arrest and make it harder for you to get reperations after you've been beat to a pulp by these blue thugs.

This better be struck down because it sounds unconstitutional as all hell.
 
the way i read this is that if you're committing a felony or act of violence and the cop arresting you somehow injures you, the cop is protected.
i dont see anything wrong with this.
 

The Llama

Member
Admittedly I'm not really a constitutional lawyer, but I imagine this would be constitutional because it's not taking away constitutional rights, it just takes away your statutory right to monetary damages for constitutional rights violations by modifying 42 U.S.C. 1983; it would still leave in place specific performance or other remedies. Basically, your constitutional rights are the same, and they still can't (or well, shouldn't...) violate them, but if they do, under the set of facts laid out in the bill, you wouldn't be able to receive monetary damages for the violation.
 

Jedi2016

Member
the way i read this is that if you're committing a felony or act of violence and the cop arresting you somehow injures you, the cop is protected.
i dont see anything wrong with this.
At the least, it will quickly spread to "If the officer THINKS that you're committing a felony or act of violence..."

It's the same excuse they use to get away with gunning down kids in the street, only now they're protected from civil suits as well as criminal charges.

GOP can just go the fuck away. The "Gone Old Party".
 
the way i read this is that if you're committing a felony or act of violence and the cop arresting you somehow injures you, the cop is protected.
i dont see anything wrong with this.
It doesn't work like that. This is designed specifically so cops can beat minorities to within an inch of their life for minor offenses and punish the victims for it
 

Derwind

Member
the way i read this is that if you're committing a felony or act of violence and the cop arresting you somehow injures you, the cop is protected.
i dont see anything wrong with this.

That's a big if and a whole lot of benefit of the doubt that a cop might not abuse the way the law is worded.

"A felony or act of violence" sounds very broad to me and possibly cover a lot.

I'm not a lawmaker though, so I could be wrong.
 

Forearms

Member
the way i read this is that if you're committing a felony or act of violence and the cop arresting you somehow injures you, the cop is protected.
i dont see anything wrong with this.

You must live in some alternate reality where cops aren't already doing shady shit and getting away with it.
 

MarionCB

Member
Not only does this protect criminal cops and further limits their accountability, but this gives a very strong personal motive for police and police departments to make sure you are convicted of a crime when they fuck up.
 

Korigama

Member
the way i read this is that if you're committing a felony or act of violence and the cop arresting you somehow injures you, the cop is protected.
i dont see anything wrong with this.
Yeah, it's not like cops injure or kill people without cause all the time and get away with it or anything... /s
 

Link

The Autumn Wind
the way i read this is that if you're committing a felony or act of violence and the cop arresting you somehow injures you, the cop is protected.
i dont see anything wrong with this.
Are you fucking serious? Why don't we just have Judge Dredd patrolling the streets?
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Admittedly I'm not really a constitutional lawyer, but I imagine this would be constitutional because it's not taking away constitutional rights, it just takes away your statutory right to monetary damages for constitutional rights violations by modifying 42 U.S.C. 1983; it would still leave in place specific performance or other remedies. Basically, your constitutional rights are the same, and they still can't (or well, shouldn't...) violate them, but if they do, under the set of facts laid out in the bill, you wouldn't be able to receive monetary damages for the violation.
Yeah as long as the police can still be held accountable, it seems not completely unreasonable that the criminal shouldn't profit from it. Put the money into a fund to provide lawyers to the poor instead or sonething. Of course it takes away some of the motivation for suing the cops if you can't personally profit from it, which I am guessing the GOP are relying on.
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Do you know how many police departments there are in the US? The answer is no, because nobody has been able to create an accurate count. There are estimates. That is a baffling detail in a bigger problem.

I think this administration will fail and the country will veer back to the left, but they are doing everything they can to make the policing of America effectively a republican aligned thing. Terrifying to watch it play out in realtime.

Cop unions are anti other professional unions. That is also terrifying.
 

commedieu

Banned
Are you fucking serious? Why don't we just have Judge Dredd patrolling the streets?

I'd prefer that. At least it would stop the Bullshit codeword's and identical outcomes. Just make them judge and jury, to complete the joke that is the justice system.

For minorities, and the lower classes, that is.

Part of my every day life is avoiding being pulled over and asked "is this your vehicle."
I already know that on paper. They are dredd. With even less accountability. Let that sink in. He was fired for shooting someone.


Wouldn't change much. Imo.
 

Zaphod

Member
It would also treat assault on a police officer leading to bodily harm as a federal crime carrying a mandatory minimum of two to 10 years in prison, depending on if the harm was minor, ”substantial" or ”serious." If a weapon was used during the assault, the charge would carry a 20 year mandatory minimum regardless of the harm inflicted on the officer.

This is a major problem with this bill. If a suspect accidentally assaults a police officer's fist with their face, and the officer gets a bloody knuckle, the suspect will see 2 years in a federal penitentiary regardless of how innocent the suspect was up until that point.

Yes, this can easily just be filibustered

"Democrats refuse to protect our boys in blue!"
 

IrishNinja

Member
i should be more bothered by this fuckery, but after that (i wanna say louisiana) move to classify attacks on "blue lives" (ugh) as a hate crime, it's hard to surprise me here
 
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