Source: Cato Institute
by Mike Fox
“For far too long, the idea that state actors who violate our rights should be held accountable has felt like a hollow promise. The Framers entrusted juries of ordinary citizens with the responsibility of adjudicating disputes between citizens and their government. Assessing the objective reasonableness of a police officer’s use of force is precisely the type of judgment call the Framers wanted jurors to make. Yet a tangled web of judicially-confected doctrines often shields egregious governmental misconduct from public scrutiny. A recent Supreme Court decision has brought a significant and welcome shift in this landscape. In Barnes v. Felix, the Justices unanimously delivered a decisive blow to one of these doctrines — offering a glimmer of hope for greater accountability for law enforcement.” (05/21/25)