The Supreme Court’s License To Kill

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Friend, James Bond may be back in theaters, but the Supreme Court is handing out real licenses to kill in its rulings. That’s the terrifying impact of this week’s decisions, which expanded the opaque legal doctrine of qualified immunity.   Qualified immunity gives officers a get out of jail free card for anytime they break the law in unprecedented ways. This is dangerous for every aspect of policing, but particularly the threat of new technologies.   When police use new weapons, whether it’s the sound canons aimed at protesters or the new forms of armed drones that can walk through our neighborhoods, everything about the technology is unprecedented. As a result, any time police use these tools to invade our homes, hurt our neighbors, or even kill members of the public, we’re powerless to fight back in court.   As Congress debates qualified immunity reforms, states and cities can take immediate action. Even under qualified immunity, we can still ban technologies that are ripe for abuse. Rather than waiting for the day that police plead qualified immunity for deadly drone strikes and other new threats, we can move to outlaw these technologies today. With thanks, Albert Fox Cahn Executive Director Share Tweet Forward Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* Our mailing address is: *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.