A recent decision from the Supreme Court has dropped us right back into one of the most stubborn legal debates in modern America: qualified immunity. If you’re feeling a sense of déjà vu, that’s because this issue never really goes away. It just rotates through new fact patterns, new plaintiffs, and new frustrations. At the…
Breonna Taylor, Broken Chains of Causation, and the Case That Collapsed
Six years after the death of Breonna Taylor, the Justice Department has moved to dismiss the remaining charges against the officers accused of falsifying the warrant used in the raid on her apartment. And if you blinked, you might have missed just how significant that is. This wasn’t just a procedural hiccup or a minor…
Spies, Security, and the Fourth Amendment: The Never-Ending Fight Over FISA Section 702
Every few years, Washington dusts off one of its most awkward debates: whether the federal government should continue using Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to conduct warrantless surveillance of foreign targets. The argument has returned again, and like clockwork, it has managed to unite some very strange political bedfellows. Civil libertarians…
Righteous Judgment or Political Revenge? A Look at the Bolton Search
On Friday morning, just as most folks were pouring their first cup of coffee, FBI agents showed up at John Bolton’s Bethesda, Maryland home and his Washington, D.C. office with court-approved search warrants in hand. The early-morning raid wasn’t routine; it marked a major escalation in a long-dormant national security investigation. At the heart of…
An Analysis of Last Week’s LA Immigration Ruling
On Friday, July 11, U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued a temporary restraining order restricting the use of “roving” immigration enforcement operations by federal agents in Los Angeles and six surrounding counties. The order applies to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and sets specific limits on how agents may conduct arrests during ongoing immigration…