[lasereye]

I don't know if the due process clause has anything to do with the case. The due process clause is about getting your day in court before you can be deprived of liberty or property. I'm no constitutional expert, but it's not clear to me that what they did, outrageous as it was, was unconstitutional. How did the case get to the SCOTUS? Was it a lawsuit by the aggrieved party?

[Phillip Augustus]

Ms. Atwater was indeed "deprived of liberty" prior to her day in court when she was arrested. It went to the Supreme Court as a result of a civil lawsuit against the arresting officer and the municipality for which he worked.