Would Eliminating Qualified Immunity Substantially Deter Police Misconduct?

MICHAEL C. DORF

Cornell law professor Michael C. Dorf discusses the proposal that eliminating or substantially reducing the qualified immunity currently enjoyed by police officers would address racism and police brutality. Although the idea has lately garnered some bipartisan support and could potentially have some benefit, Dorf describes two reasons to be skeptical of the suggestion. He concludes that for all of its flaws, qualified immunity may actually facilitate the progressive development of constitutional rights.

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Star v. TI Oldfield Development, LLC

Dockets: 18-2202, 18-2205

Opinion Date: June 10, 2020

Judge: G. Steven Agee

Areas of Law: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law

After the Boards of Directors filed lawsuits raising claims related to a residential community, a resident filed a derivative action alleging similar claims against nearly identical defendants. The district court dismissed the derivative action and the Boards settled the lawsuits in the meantime. The Fourth Circuit held that the settlements mooted the resident's claims insofar as they were related to the ones asserted by the Boards. Therefore, the court dismissed his appeal as to those claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. To the extent the resident asserted claims falling outside the scope of those asserted by the Boards' complaints, the court concluded that those claims were either also rendered moot by the settlement agreements or were otherwise properly dismissed by the district court.