On May 11, the Louisiana (LA) House voted in favor of limits to qualified immunity (QI). House Bill 609 is the Bayou State’s attempt to hold cops more accountable. Sponsored by Rep. Edmond Jordan, the bill passed the House with a 53-42 vote.
New York State (NYS) Senator Robert Jackson wants to end qualified immunity (QI). On May 10, Senator Robert Jackson stopped by WYNC’s The Brian Lehrer Show. He came on the program to discuss S 1991, a police reform bill he’s sponsoring. S 1991 aims to end qualified immunity (QI) in New York State.
The Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCAA) is a police organization representing large cities in the United States and Canada. On May 9, the MCCA released a statement that supports qualified immunity (QI) reform.
The Editorial Board of the Los Angeles Daily News wrote an op-ed on qualified immunity (QI). The op-ed supports Senate Bill 2. This act seeks to end QI for bad cops in the Golden State. SB 2 was introduced by State Senator Steven Bradford. Along with targeting QI, the bill wants to decertify bad cops. SB 2 is a response to the growing calls to eliminate QI, both in California and nationwide. These calls have increased since George Floyd’s death in May 2020.
As In Depth New Hampshire reports, Rep. Paul Berch introduced an amendment to Senate Bill 96. The amendment reintroduces legislation to end QI in NH. The lawmaker unveiled the amendment at Monday’s news conference. Ben and Jerry back the amendment. That’s why they came to New Hampshire to speak at the news conference.
The Boston Globe recently published an op-ed on qualified immunity (QI). In her op-ed for the Globe, staff writer Kimberly Atkins supports ending the doctrine. Her piece focuses on bipartisan negotiations surrounding the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
WBUR’s On Point is hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti with producer Anna Baum. The episode on QI is called “How Refroming Qualified Immunity Could Transform Policing in America.” The guests are Joanna Schwartz, Professor of Law at UCLA, and Colorado State Rep. Leslie Herod. In June 2020, Colorado became the first state to end qualified immunity. Rep. Herod was instrumental in making that happen.
The qualified immunity (QI) defense has been invoked by prison guards in the Ulises Valladares case. The family of the late Valladares is appealing this QI decision. Specifically, an appeal court’s decision to grant QI to the agent who killed Ulises Valladares. Despite the decision, his family refuses to back down.
Here’s our latest letters to the editor (LTE) roundup. In periodicals from Hawaii’s West Hawaii Today to California’s Taunton Daily Gazette, and The Mercury News to Massachusetts’ Telegram & Gazette, readers nationwide weigh in on qualified immunity (QI).
Rutgers Law Center recently released a study on qualified immunity (QI). Rutgers Law Center is affiliated with Rutgers University in New Jersey. The study is called Brutality By Design: Understanding Police Misconduct as Structural Inequality. It was spearheaded by David D. Troutt. He is a law professor at Rutgers and founder of the Center on Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity (CLiME).