Supreme Court Decision Leaves Issue of “Accommodation” by Police for Lower Courts

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A US Supreme Court decision declared that Teresa Sheehan cannot sue police for shooting her, in circumstances where the police “had sufficient reason to believe that their conduct was justified.” However, the question as to whether the City of San Francisco can still be held liable for the police’s actions and for not accommodating Sheehan’s mental illness under the Americans with Disabilities Act remains open, reported SFGate.

The story was previously reported on by Mad in America.

According to SFGate, Justice Scalia in particular criticized the City’s lawyers for what he called “bait-and-switch tactics” — the City got the case pushed all the way to the Supreme Court by asserting that they would argue that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) doesn’t apply when police are facing armed and dangerous suspects, but then never actually raised that issue during the Supreme Court hearings.

“Ben Nisenbaum, an attorney for Sheehan, said his client can ‘finally get her full day in court’ and sue the city under the disability act,” reported SFGate. Another attorney for Sheehan said, “I’m not surprised that the majority opinion granted qualified immunity to the officers. I do think that the issue still remains as to whether the city can itself be liable for violating the ADA.”

S.F. police immune from suit over shooting of mentally ill woman (SFGate, May 18, 2015)

3 COMMENTS

  1. “Mentally ill” or black or else is less of an issue than the fat that police in US seems to know nothing about policing and everything about shooting at slightest perceived provocation. Maybe someone should remind them they’re not soldiers in a war zone.

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  2. “had sufficient reason to believe that their conduct was justified.” So the Scotus has created a monster that is effectively answerable to no one. This Scotus is creating a Fascist Police State. Anyone can rationalize a reason that anyone can declare sufficient to justify their conduct. It is no personal attack to state of the SCOTUS the facts it continually demonstrates through its increasingly infamous demonstrated conduct that it is corrupt, cowardly, and incompetent. These are supposed to be men and women of near infallible logic and yet they create this monstrosity of circular logic that keeps the police as a perpetually self-exonerating institution. The conclusion that is becoming both more evident and inescapable is that the only remedy is increasingly an inevitable conflict that can only be resolved by mass violence against a government that is wholly inclined to continually deepen oppression and separate us from each or own individual human rights. This SCOTUS has our founding fathers spinning in their graves and all the souls in Arlington ready to rise against them while the soul of Hitler is dancing.

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  3. Citizens of America I would highly recommend & encourage we all take a stand once and for all against police corruption/brutality.The best way to do so,write to your state representative and complain.take a stand,Let them know how fed up we all are from this.Come Join M.A.C.C. (men against corrupted cops) in support,back each other up nationally and help dissolve the corruption quickly within the police forces.Help pass laws for every citizen in case we feel uncomfortable,unease and offended by a sudden attack by a cop so we can protect ourselves.we don’t deserve it so why tolerate it? Together we stand,divided we fall remember that.I urge everyone that’s had enough to stand up and help defend our god given american rights that corrupted cops are attempting to take away with nonsense procedural excuses they literally use against us.please go to the website below,sign up and become a member.Support copblock in your local neighborhood,towns and cities.Enough is enough.

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Men-Against-Corrupted-Cops-MACC/751041764973823

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