TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Katharine Heriges on May 30, 2017
The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned a rule developed by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that gave victims of police shootings an additional route to sue for alleged excessive force, the ABA Journal reports. The “provocation rule” had held that police who used force not deemed excessive may be liable nonetheless because they provoked victims to respond in a way that makes officers fear for their safety. Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the opinion that the rule is incompatible with the court’s excessive force jurisprudence.