Please enjoy the latest edition of Short Circuit, a weekly feature written by a bunch of people at the Institute for Justice.
New cert petition! In 2013, a Clovis, Calif. officer disclosed to a fellow officer that his girlfriend had filed a confidential domestic violence complaint against him—knowing full well that she was trapped in a room with him at that very moment. He then brutally attacked her. And though the Ninth Circuit ruled earlier this year that it was "obvious" that disclosing the report put her in grave danger, it granted the first officer qualified immunity anyway, finding that no factually identical prior case gave the officer fair notice the disclosure was unconstitutional. The decision reinforces a circuit split and also conflicts with Supreme Court precedent that says a factually identical case is not necessary in situations where an official has time and opportunity to deliberate (as opposed to a split-second decision on the use of force). Today, IJ asked the Supreme Court to weigh in.
Is school choice racist? Did it originate with post-Brown v. Board opposition to public school integration? Shameful mistruths! IJ Senior Attorney Michael Bindas takes to the Syracuse Law Review and sets the record straight.
