“The court cited the 8th District Court of Appeals in saying a public officer has an obligation to not enforce unconstitutional laws. Peters’ contesting the lawsuit made him liable for the fees, according to federal law.”
The Judge is following federal law. If there is a valid false arrest claim (and this was a bad arrest) then the losing party pays the attorneys fees. It's standard procedure in every federal case like this. For some reason this paper decided to highlight this particular case (I'm shocked). The officer himself won't be paying a dime. It will come from the city for enacting and keeping an idiotic ordinance that's clearly unconstitutional.I am against flag burning as well but the law is clear that it is constitutional. For a city to enact an ordinance basically directing officers that it is illegal to burn a flag is just stupid. I don't know if that is the case here, but am guessing it is. -- Posted by Ck1993 on Fri, Mar 1, 2013, at 5:28 PM
So cops and prosecutors can be held personally liable for enforcing unconstitutional gun laws that state and city politicians are enacting?