If the Police Lie, Should They Be Held Liable? Often the Answer Is No.
The New York Times
Federal agents and police officers who work with them are often immune from lawsuits, even for serious rights violations. The Supreme Court is being asked to re-evaluate that.
In 2010, Officer Heather Weyker of the St. Paul Police Department in Minnesota had the biggest case of her career: a child sex-trafficking ring said to have spanned four states and involved girls as young as 12. Thirty people, almost all of them Somali refugees, were charged and sent to jail, many of them for years. Then the case fell apart. It turned out, the trial judge found, that Officer Weyker had fabricated or misstated facts, lied to a grand jury and lied during a detention hearing. When three young women unwittingly got in the way of her investigation, according to their court filings, she had them locked up on false charges. “She took my life away,” said one of the women, Hamdi Mohamud, who was a senior in high school at the time.
Joanna Smith-Griffin was charged with lying to investors about revenue and her customer base, which she claimed included some of the nation’s largest school districts, including New York City’s.
Ms. Tisch, a member of a prominent New York family who has held several positions in city government, will take over the nation’s largest police department.
The verdict followed a four-day bench trial in which prosecutors detailed a violent attack that became a flashpoint in the bitter national debate over immigration policy.
Now that New York City and surrounding counties are under a drought warning, officials are asking residents to save water and help prevent more wildfires.
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G.O.P. lawmakers whose leaders have pressed to roll back transgender rights around the country moved to bar Sarah McBride, the first transgender member of Congress, from women’s rooms on Capitol Hill.
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School districts serving more than two million elementary-school children would be able to adopt a curriculum that draws on the Bible.
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Prosecutors have had to acknowledge that a victim frightened those around him. The defense lawyers are expected to paint their client as a protector.
In scores of interviews throughout 2024, Latino, Black and Asian American voters, many of whom voted for Donald Trump, said they no longer trusted Democrats to improve the economy.