Qualified Immunity of the Police
An interview with Prof. Fred Smith, Jr.
Qualified immunity shields the police from civil suits for money damages unless certain conditions are met. But with multiple high-profile police shootings in the past few years and increased calls for greater law enforcement accountability, is it time for the Supreme Court to reassess the doctrine? Professor Fred Smith, Jr. of Emory University School of Law explains to Ingrid Bilowich how qualified immunity came to be and whether its justifications still hold up in the post-Ferguson era.
