Held to a Lower Standard

Qualified Immunity Serves as a Legal Shield for Police Abuse

It’s 1871, race tensions remain high, particularly in the south during reconstruction. The recently formed Ku Klux Klan began terrorizing freed slaves and their allies through assassination and intimidation. Klan groups spread to such an extent that president Grant signed multiple Enforcement Acts to provide new federal powers to target the Klan and eventually bring about its demise.

The Third Enforcement Act of 1871 remains relevant for today (Section 1983), as it explicitly provides legal redress against anyone who deprives another person of their rights. In other words, if your rights are deprived of you, you can sue whomever deprived you of those rights — including government officials.

This interpretation was held up in Supreme Court cases such as Monroe v. Pape in 1961, where Chicago police made a family of 8 “stand naked in the living room” while they “ransacked every room” to look for evidence, and arrested and detained the father for a murder investigation, all without a warrant. While the city of Chicago was not held liable, the officers themselves were.

This precedent provided some incentive to limit police abuse. Even if police were not held criminally for such actions, individuals could file claims against officers and receive compensation.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long after Monroe v. Pape for the Supreme Court to effectively reverse its decision…