Supreme Court

Thomas and Alito Take a Regrettable Position in a Qualified Immunity Case

The two judicial conservatives continue to disappoint criminal justice reform advocates.

Damon Root | 5.28.2026 11:50 AM

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(Illustration: Midjourney)

Qualified immunity is a judge-made doctrine that routinely shields bad cops from facing civil lawsuits over their abusive and unconstitutional behavior. All too often, a federal judge will hear a case in which a clear constitutional violation occurred, only to then shield the offending officer anyway from facing civil liability over the blatant misconduct. It's a legal doctrine that deserves to be abolished.

Occasionally, however, the officer will lose one of these cases, and qualified immunity will be denied. That's what happened last year in Hart v. Grand Rapids, in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit actually let a federal civil rights lawsuit proceed against a........

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