In today's newsletter, I did a deep dive into the web of court cases that created the conditions for Breonna Taylor's death and make future deaths like hers inevitable. The newsletter is () but here are the key points. /1 https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/supreme-court-precedent-killed-breonna

First, there are the SCOTUS no-knock cases (hat tip @radleybalko for his excellent analyses of these issues) that collectively both empower no-knock raids and remove exclusionary rule penalties for their misuse: /2

Next come the SCOTUS and circuit cases that often immunize officers even from CIVIL liability when officers shoot and kill citizens in their own homes when citizens do nothing wrong and sometimes even when officers are at the wrong house: /3

Now, let's add another wrinkle -- citizens have a right to own a handgun for self-defense and many live in castle doctrine states where there is no duty to retreat in the face of reasonably-perceived unlawful forcible entry. /4

This means not only are police often protected even from civil liability when the citizen does nothing wrong -- police are protected from civil liability even when the citizen is exercising a constitutionally-protected right to bear arms in self-defense. /5

Finally, it's worth remembering that Breonna Taylor's story is not unique. There has been too much carnage in this country caused by no-knock raids and protected by qualified immunity. It's time for the law to change. /end