If Alex Pretti had been pepper-sprayed, thrown to the ground, disarmed, and repeatedly shot by Minnesota police after exercising his First Amendment right to record law enforcement and his Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms as a lawful conceal-carry permit holder, Pretti's family would be able to sue the officers involved under Section 1983 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code, which says that state officials may be sued in federal court when they allegedly violate someone's constitutional rights. Such a lawsuit would be at least one way for the grieving family to seek justice in the wake of Pretti's horrific and seemingly lawless killing.
But Pretti was not killed by state or local police. He was killed by agents of the U.S. Border Patrol. And thanks to a series of flawed rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, such federal agents are heavily shielded from facing any civil liability for conduct that violates constitutional rights.
