The problem with qualified immunity as it is currently applied is that it is almost impossible to overcome. It doesn't matter how egregious the offense, the officer will have immunity unless there is a specific case in that particular judicial circuit, with the same exact set of particular facts, that has previously held that the actions were unlawful. It becomes a Catch-22: because there is no previous case law, the case gets thrown out - which means no case law can ever be created to establish that the conduct is illegal. Even if the conduct were established as illegal in another judicial circuit, that would not be enough to overcome qualified immunity. So a case with the same set of facts in the 5th Circuit that overcame qualified immunity would not do so in any other Circuit.
It sounds like you know more about this issue than I do. Thanks for the explanation.
That’s incorrect.
There was no case directly on point here either:
https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/taylor-riojas.pdf
Overcoming Qualified immunity doesn’t always require a case directly on point.
True dat...
“So a case with the same set of facts in the 5th Circuit that overcame qualified immunity would not do so in any other Circuit.”
When conflicting decisions like this occur in the lower courts, it is the job of SCOTUS to take a case and render a decision that brings ALL conflicting decisions in the lower courts under a unified ruling. Thus, further decisions by the lower courts should be able to render a ruling consistent with the SCOTUS ruling.