- Mar 11, 2015
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The Supreme Court today declined to hear a case that would have affirmed that the First Amendment protects protest leaders and organizers from being held liable for any actions of a third party that they did not specifically direct, authorize, ratify, or intend. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a statement explaining that, though the court declined to hear the case, its decision expresses no view on the merits of the First Amendment arguments.
The case, Mckesson v Doe, was brought against DeRay Mckesson, a prominent civil rights and social justice activist, by a police officer claiming that Mckesson should be liable for personal injuries he suffered after an unknown individual, not Mr. Mckesson, threw an object at him during a political protest in the aftermath of the 2016 killing of Alton Sterling by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Previously, the Fifth Circuit ruled, over powerful dissenting opinions, in favor of the officer, accepting a theory under which all protest leaders can find themselves on the hook for an unlawful act they did not intend, committed by an unidentified person they neither knew nor controlled, all because they were at the same protest.
www.aclu.org
This decision by the Fifth Circuit and the refusal of the SCOTUS to hear this appeal could come back and bite the courts. Because of this decision, Donald Trump can be held accountable for any and all damage caused by the people who particiapted in the insurrection. If that does not happen, it will be another example of how the system is not the same for everyone.
The case, Mckesson v Doe, was brought against DeRay Mckesson, a prominent civil rights and social justice activist, by a police officer claiming that Mckesson should be liable for personal injuries he suffered after an unknown individual, not Mr. Mckesson, threw an object at him during a political protest in the aftermath of the 2016 killing of Alton Sterling by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Previously, the Fifth Circuit ruled, over powerful dissenting opinions, in favor of the officer, accepting a theory under which all protest leaders can find themselves on the hook for an unlawful act they did not intend, committed by an unidentified person they neither knew nor controlled, all because they were at the same protest.
ACLU Statement on Supreme Court Decision to Decline to Hear Case on Protestors’ Rights | American Civil Liberties Union
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court today declined to hear a case that would have affirmed that the First Amendment protects protest leaders and organizers...
www.aclu.org
This decision by the Fifth Circuit and the refusal of the SCOTUS to hear this appeal could come back and bite the courts. Because of this decision, Donald Trump can be held accountable for any and all damage caused by the people who particiapted in the insurrection. If that does not happen, it will be another example of how the system is not the same for everyone.
