Sunday Splits
Serving You Circuit Splits Every Sunday
Ellie Harris | Protecting Pretrial Detainees from Deliberate Indifference
In 2015, the Supreme Court reviewed the case of Michael Kingsley, a pretrial detainee who suffered a brutal assault at the hands of his jailers and sued them for using excessive force in violation of his rights. The Court held in Kingsley v. Hendrickson that claims of excessive force against a pretrial detainee must be evaluated against an objective standard. This means that when a court is determining whether excessive force is used, it must do so from the point of view of the reasonable officer who was present at the time (as opposed to the perspective of the specific officer involved). The Court explained that “the Due Process Clause protects pretrial detainees from excessive force that amounts to punishment,” which can occur when the force at issue is not “reasonably related to the legitimate purpose of holding detainees for trial.”
Ellie Harris | COPS: Cell Phone Edition
When it comes to civilians recording police actions, the First Amendment and doctrine of qualified immunity often come into conflict with each other.
Is there a First Amendment right to record the police in public, and does this right outweigh the doctrine of qualified immunity?
Ellie Harris | The Prison Mailbox Rule: How to Send Mail in Jail
In formulating the prison mailbox rule, the Houston Court specified the struggles of “pro se prisoner[s]” in filing paperwork. So, does this rule, where a prisoner’s notice of appeal is filed when he hands it to prison officials to be mailed, apply to all prisoners, including those represented by counsel (broad interpretation), or only to pro se prisoners (narrow interpretation)?