Pierson v Ray – The case that gave us the horrible concept of Qualified Immunity.
By
John C Abercrombie
We often allow our eyes to glaze over when it comes to legal cases. Instead of taking basic steps to understand not only the case but the predicament it places us in, we stand by, let it happen and spend the rest of our lives in the dark, asking “what happened?”
Let’s take a minute to demystify what we often hear at the beginning of many court cases when the bailiff issues the following call.
o·yez
[ōˈyā, ōˈyez]
EXCLAMATION
a call given by a court officer, or formerly by public criers, typically repeated two or three times to command silence and attention, as before court is in session.
Pierson v Ray is such an example. This was a case taken on by the United States Supreme Court which first introduced the justification of Qualified Immunity for police officers, keeping them from being sued for civil rights violations, even if they violate your constitutional rights. They argued that a policeman is not so unhappy that the officer must chose between being charged with dereliction of duty that the officer does not arrest when having probable cause and being mulcted “deprive someone of (money or possessions) by fraudulent means”.
We take another look at Qualified Immunity, the process that protects seemingly implausible actions from police that result with no charges being filed. It is a complex problem and needs a solution.
Find out why letting a dog chew up a person is permissible, why putting a person in a cell that is not heated and filled with sewage is permitted. It makes no sense and is desperately in need of change, but requires understanding before it can be done effectively.
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This post is complicated, but we will try to bring understanding Sunday. 04.30.2023
Other posts on the topic or Qualified Immunity
Qualified Immunity – Corrective Actions
Qualified Immunity – What Is It and How Does It Affect Law?
While there may have been good intent behind this in the beginning, we see it all too often when police get away with maiming and even killing people for completely insane reasons with no consequences. As you will see in this post, this gives officers the protection of the law even when they violate your constitutional rights.
This case takes a couple of weird turns but take your time and fully understand this case since it answers the questions we have after we see officers get off even for the most heinous actions.
The original case started in Jackson, Mississippi when 15 Episcopal priests were arrested after entering a copy shop at the local Trailways but terminal. They were from the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity, and they were taking part in the Mississippi Freedom Rides.
Some of the Freedom Riders were incarcerated in the Mississippi State Penitentiary. Freedom riders continue to arrive in Montgomery, Alabama to continue the ride and replace the wounded riders still in the hospital.
The Freedom Riders were challenging the non-enforcement of the United States decision Morgan v Virginia, a 1946 case which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. Southern states had ignored the ruling and the federal government did nothing to enforce the law.
The group consisted of 15 people including three Black priests on September 13, 1961. When they entered the coffee shop to have lunch before departing, they were stopped by two policemen, Officers David Allison Nichols and Joseph David Griffith who asked them to leave. When they refused, Captain JL Ray arrested them and jailed all fifteen priests for breach of peace.
In the group were Reverend Robert L Pierson, son-in-law of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. They were brought before local judge James Spencer, who found them guilty and sentenced them to four months in jail and a $200.00 fine. The case was appealed to Hinds County Court where Judge Russell Moore threw out the verdict showing no violation of the law.
They were represented by Carl Rachlin, chief legal counsel for CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) seeking damages before Judge Sidney Mise. The charge was the police and the previous judge had violated Title 42, Section 1983 of the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act. Note that all this is the document and the exact location of the specific information in question. Should you ever need to refer to it, you can go directly there using that information. This is similar to your exact address as opposed to the city where you live.
In that law false arrest and imprisonment were the result of them exercising their civil rights. The all-White jury found in favor of the police.
On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found that the local judge was immune from liability for his decision. Although the appeal court found the Mississippi code unconstitutional, it found that “Mississippi law does not require police officers to predict at their peril which state laws are constitutional, and which are not.”
Rachlin appealed to the Supreme Court. Judge James Spencer. Captain Ray (by this time Chief) and Judge Spencer had already arrested and sentenced more than 300 Freedom Riders for “breach of peace” before this incident. They were represented by Elizabeth Watkins Hulen Grayson.
Rachlin had made the argument on the basis of the Civil Rights Act of 1871’s section 1979, which was codified (Made it into law – like we discussed earlier) into the US Civil Code Title 42 Chapter 21 Section 1983. The original 1871 Act stated that Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress.
Ruling
Eight of the nine justices agreed with the Fifth Circuit that Judge Spencer had absolute immunity from liability for damages, and that Section 1983 would not apply in a judge’s case, stating that “the immunity of judges for acts within the judicial role is equally well established, and we presume that Congress would have specifically so provided had it wished to abolish the doctrine.” This principle of immunity of judges from liability for damages was established in common law as found in the case Bradley v. Fisher (1872).
While this is specific for judges, the courts have interpreted it broadly to include police, even when their actions defy logic of the most basic definitions.
It is time to review this inane policy, it is not a law. It is time to become involved in understanding what affects us. We no longer have the luxury of not being involved.
They went on to state that although police officers are not granted absolute and unqualified immunity from liability for damages, they may be excused “from liability for acting under a statute that he reasonably believed to be valid but that was later held unconstitutional, on its face or as applied”, similar to the principle that a police officer “… who arrests someone with probable cause is not liable for false arrest simply because the innocence of the suspect is later proved.”
However, the justices found that the jury trial was influenced by irrelevant and prejudicial evidence, which included trying to get the priests to agree that their views on racial justice and equality aligned with the Communist movement. They also disagreed with the appeal court that the priests had consented to their arrest merely by gathering in the terminal under the principle of volenti non fit injuria. Therefore, a new trial could be remanded to claim damages against the police.
Only Justice Douglas dissented, stating that Section 1983 must include the judiciary who too must be liable for civil rights violations in the course of their duties. He pointed to the debate in Congress during the Act’s inception where “members of Congress objected to the statute because it imposed liability on members of the judiciary.” Accordingly, as the Act was passed without providing any exception for the judiciary, he concluded that Congress intended for Section 1983 to apply to ‘any person’, including judges.
This is not a law but is used by courts to provide cover to law enforcement officers who violate your constitutional rights, injure, Aor even kill people in the process. It seems like a gross overreach of the law and the results are difficult if not impossible to understand. It is time to seriously examine the practice and make changes. Without it, we see a litany of cases where blatant disregard for rights and an absence of common sense abounds. It explains why we see all too often cases involving police misconduct tht results in no consequences to the officer. Again, it is not a law and must be examined.
**
Pierson v. Ray 386 U.S. 547 (1967)
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Qualified immunity CHALLENGE: Listen to Pierson v Ray in the next 24 hrs. 1
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Book
Above the Law: How “Qualified Immunity” Protects Violent Police
• A police officer kills a twelve-year-old boy. It’s caught on video. The officer gets off.
• A police officer strangles a man selling cigarettes. It’s caught on video. The officer gets off.
• A police officer shoots a man in his car. It’s live-streamed. The officer gets off.
It happens over and over again. The culprit here, alongside the cops, is Qualified Immunity (QI), a legal principle which Reuters describes as “a nearly failsafe tool to let police brutality go unpunished and deny victims their constitutional rights.”
Originally intended to protect cops from being sued over good faith mistakes, courts have interpreted QI so broadly that police are shielded from accountability in all but the rarest of circumstances. Only when the exact same abusive behavior was already deemed unconstitutional by a court in the exact same jurisdiction can victims succeed in a prosecution.
Above the Law recounts 12 cases in which justice was denied because of QI. The stories are accompanied by infographics, timelines, and contextualizing background to create a concise and compelling indictment of an outrageously unjust legal principle that must be changed.
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Pierson Vs Ray – LIVE 2
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The Damage Done: One Good Man and Two Constitutional Rights vs. Violent Police Officers and Their Felony Perjury In the Qualified Immunity Era And A Cure For America
ONE GOOD MAN AND TWO CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS VS VIOLENT POLICE OFFICERS AND THEIR FELONY PERJURY IN THE QUALIFIED IMMUNITY ERA ~ AND A CURE FOR AMERICA
Civil rights should be respected on our streets. But sometimes they aren’t.
When rights are violated, there must be justice in our courts.
*But there is no justice in The Qualified Immunity Era.*
Only justice in our courts protects our civil rights on our streets.
Only justice provides correction and deterrence.
This is a true story about civil rights violated by two hostile young police officers, who then committed felony perjury and engaged in witness tampering to try to cover up the civil rights violations. And brazen theft in the jail.
All proven by documents and video. A very strong, compelling and clearly proven case.
And then, in the battle for justice, a federal judge ignored video, ignored multiple incidents of felony perjury by officers, and granted illicit absolution to the officers by violating federal court rules and preventing a jury from even hearing the case. The judge even lied and quoted felony perjury that the officers had recanted — and that was proven to be perjury by documents in her hand — as reasons for denying justice.
Lies were repeated by the Appeals Court, and ignored by SCOTUS.
Many layers of outrageous.
You can learn about all of the details of the process, and our justice system because they are recorded here.
The tale is too fantastic to be fiction. It actually happened in America, more than 10 years ago.
If justice had been secured in this case, rights would have been restored and our streets would have been made safer, perhaps saving many lives afterwards, including those who suffered grievous civil rights violations in the 2020s.
I share this frightening story of rights violation and the ensuing legal battles for one reason:
No other citizen should be forced to endure the extreme distress and Damage Done so pointlessly to my life, and to the lives of tens of thousands of others.
If you, or someone you care about, has suffered civil rights violations, the guideposts in this story can help navigate the system. You have to see the way ahead.
The Constitution of the United States, Fourth Amendment:
“The right of the people to secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Let’s restore civil rights and repair the awfulness of The Qualified Immunity Era.
Smart Americans can, and will.
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Qualified Immunity In America: An Overview & Conversation [POLICYbrief]
Created by the Supreme Court in 1967, the legal doctrine of qualified immunity shields government officials from being sued even if they violate someone’s constitutional rights, as long as they are not violating what the Court calls “clearly established law.”
Proponents of qualified immunity argue that it is necessary for police officers to perform their job without the fear of being sued. Critics say that qualified immunity offers too much protection for the police and lessens their accountability.
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Law for Beginners
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How Cops Get Away With Murder: Qualified Immunity (LegalEagle’s Law Review)
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White Fear: How the Browning of America Is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds
White fear has shaped our democracy and society from the beginning—and today, it’s more intense and visible than ever. To neutralize it, we must first understand it.
White fear is not new. It enabled the rise of Donald Trump. It’s behind the recent flood of restrictive voting laws disproportionately impacting people of color. It’s why reactions to movements like Black Lives Matter and a football player taking a knee have been so negative and so strong.
For two centuries, the deep-seated fear that many White people feel—of losing power, of losing economic standing, of losing a particular “way of life”—has been the driving force behind American politics and culture. And as we approach a future where White people will become a racial minority in the US, something estimated to occur as early as 2043, that fear is only intensifying, festering, and becoming more visible. Are we destined for a violent clash? What can we do to step into our country’s inevitable future, without tearing ourselves apart in the process?
Nationally renowned journalist and award-winning author Roland Martin has been sounding this alarm for more than a decade. In White Fear, he provides a primer on how white fear has shaped, and continues to shape, our democracy and our culture. He connects the separate puzzle pieces, from the Tea Party Movement and QAnon to the decline of White American optimism to the diminishing blue-collar workforce, to illuminate the larger picture of what will unfold in America over the next decade-plus, and offers a better way forward.
I
f we want to create the kind of country that we’re all welcome in and proud to live in, we can no longer ignore white fear. To neutralize it—in our country and, for White listeners, ourselves—we must first understand it. Only then can we recognize and dismantle it. And as the last few years have shown, we don’t have any time to lose.
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The Reveal | Qualified Immunity, Police Impunity Ep. 73
Police procedure and accountability have been a topic of conversation for years, but recent incidents have put it in the national spotlight. The latest episode of #TheRevealon11 examines qualified immunity and how it’s preventing accountability and transparency.
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We often end up scratching our heads over some of the decisions that seem to allow law enforcement to get away with murder. It is the practice of Qualified Immunity that is at the root of it all. While there may be some validity to the original thought behind the concept, it is time to review if it is at all appropriate today. Law Enforcement is able to violate Constitutional rights with complete immunity. They are immune from the need for any common sense even though they are trained by departments responsible for the enforcement of laws. It seems that this seems to be a license for Whites to kill Blacks even when there are less invasive ways to handle the situation.
Law enforcement killed a young Black man recently by shooting him in the back over 45 times. It was determined that the law enforcement officers (8) were cleared.
It is past time to have an open honest look at this practice. The courts are complicit in the matter and by examining this post, you can see that they are a major reason for it continuing today.
Get involved, it is time for change!