The Real Insidious Part of Dershowitz’s Impeachment Defense

VIKRAM DAVID AMAR, EVAN CAMINKER

Illinois law dean Vikram David Amar and Michigan Law dean emeritus Evan Caminker discuss Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz’s explanation of why he stands (virtually) alone in his views on impeachment—that all the scholars who disagree with him are biased partisans. Amar and Caminker explain why this claim is so insidious, with effects lasting well beyond the span of the current presidency.

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Orn v. City of Tacoma

Docket: 18-35379

Opinion Date: February 3, 2020

Judge: Paul Jeffrey Watford

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's order denying qualified immunity to a police officer in a 42 U.S.C. 1983 action brought by plaintiff, alleging that the officer used excessive force when he shot and severely wounded plaintiff after a slow-speed car pursuit. The panel held that a reasonable jury could conclude that the officer violated plaintiff's Fourth Amendment right to be free from the use of excessive force. In this case, taking the facts in the light most favorable to plaintiff, and giving due deference to the officer's assessment of the danger presented by the situation he confronted, the officer did not have an objectively reasonable basis for believing that plaintiff posed a threat of serious physical harm to any of the officers. The panel also held that plaintiff’s right to be free from the use of excessive force was clearly established at the time of the shooting.