by
Alex
Kormann/The
Minnesota
Star
Tribune
via
Getty
Images)
The
folks
who
haven’t
even
passed
the
bar
yet
are
more
committed
to
defending
the
Constitution
than
the
corps
of
government
lawyers
who
swore
to
uphold
it.
A
student-led
coalition
has
gathered
more
than
2,600
signatures
from
law
students,
legal
academics,
and
law
student
organizations
across
109
law
schools
calling
on
Congress
to
pass
the
Federal
Officer
Accountability
Act.
As
the
Department
of
Homeland
Security
disappears
suspected
migrants
without
due
process,
arbitrarily
harasses
citizens,
and
point
blank
kills
innocent
people
on
camera,
a
shocked
public
has
learned
what
lawyers
have
talked
about
for
years:
the
government
has
stacked
the
immunity
deck
to
functionally
shield
law
enforcement
from
accountability.
But
Congress
could,
if
it
wanted
to,
put
a
stop
border
enforcement’s
cheat
codes
by
statutorily
authorizing
lawsuits
against
federal
officers
for
constitutional
violations.
As
reported
by
The
Nation,
the
effort
grew
out
of
a
late-night
idea
by
Berkeley
Law
students
—
including
Amelia
Dal
Pra,
Zadie
Adams,
Isaiah
Paik,
Shree
Mehrotra,
and
Kaylana
Mueller-Hsia
—
inspired
by
Times
opinion
piece
from
Berkeley
Law
Dean
Erwin
Chemerinsky
and
NYU
professor
emeritus
Burt
Neuborne.
Within
one
week,
the
letter
attracted
signatures
from
146
legal
academics,
22
law
student
governments,
and
224
law
student
organizations.
If
you
fit
one
of
those
descriptions
and
haven’t
signed
on
yet,
here’s
your
opportunity.
Section
1983
allows
individuals
to
sue
state
and
local
officers
for
constitutional
violations
since
1871.
As
appellate
attorney
Chris
Truax
put
it
in
The
Hill,
Section
1983
is
“kryptonite
for
nascent
tyranny.”
That’s
a
tad
overstated
since
Superman
doesn’t
get
to
avoid
kryptonite
just
by
telling
a
court
he
was
following
standard
procedure.
The
judicially
contrived
defense
of
“qualified
immunity”
—
the
most
consequential
typo
in
American
law
—
frustrates
most
1983
cases,
giving
law
enforcement
a
“Get
Out
of
Responsibility
Free”
card
as
long
as
they
can
sell
a
judge
that
it’s
totally
normal
police
procedure
to
light
a
man
on
fire.
Superman
wishes
his
heat
vision
could
do
that!
But
to
the
most
egregious
police
conduct
occasionally
results
in
some
1983
accountability
it
puts
some
brakes
on
police
misconduct
to
know
they
might
have
to
justify
their
actions
in
court
if
they
go
full
jackboot.
Federal
law
enforcement
has
no
such
check.
The
Supreme
Court
briefly
created
a
workaround
to
hold
federal
agents
to
account
in
Bivens
v.
Six
Unknown
Named
Agents.
But
since
that
1971
opinion,
the
Supreme
Court
has
methodically
dismantled
that
remedy.
In
Egbert
v.
Boule
(2022),
the
Court
all
but
closed
the
door
entirely,
reasoning
that
if
Congress
wants
people
to
be
able
to
sue
federal
officers,
Congress
should
pass
a
law.
These
law
students
take
the
Court
at
its
word.
Their
proposed
text
of
the
Federal
Officer
Accountability
Act
mirrors
Section
1983’s
language,
extended
to
those
acting
under
the
authority
of
federal
law.
But
it
also
adds
the
kicker
that
officers
found
to
have
used
excessive
force
cannot
be
shielded
by
qualified
immunity.
Minnesota
is
presently
a
constitutional
law
dumpster
fire.
The
Constitutional
Accountability
Center
identifies
at
least
five
constitutional
amendments
that
the
Trump
administration
is
repeatedly
violating
on
the
ground.
Federal
agents
have
killed
American
citizens
Renée
Good
and
Alex
Pretti
on
film
during
immigration
enforcement
operations.
Over
50
people
have
died
in
ICE
detention
under
this
administration.
A
federal
judge
in
Minnesota
has
cataloged
ICE
violating
96
court
orders
in
74
cases
since
January
1,
2026
—
a
stunning
series
of
contemptuous
failures
that
led
one
government
lawyer
to
a
bit
of
an
in-court
breakdown.
ICE
has
taken
the
position
that
the
Fourth
Amendment
doesn’t
apply
to
noncitizens.
The
need
for
a
federal
1983
is
as
pronounced
as
ever.
Under
the
current
legal
framework,
the
families
of
the
dead
have
essentially
no
civil
remedy
against
the
individual
officers.
Even
the
state
courts
are
closed
off
because
federal
agents
can
automatically
remove
to
federal
court.
They
can’t
rely
upon
internal
review
—
the
FBI
had
a
warrant
to
investigate
Renee
Good’s
murder
and
Trump
officials
called
it
off.
The
law
students
are
shouldering
the
nation’s
ethical
and
constitutional
burdens
while
government
lawyers
run
roughshod.
Administration
lawyers
are
filing
baseless
charges
against
the
administration’s
political
enemies
and
arresting
journalists,
advancing
facially
frivolous
legal
theories.
As
they
rack
up
clear
and
public
violations
of
the
code
we
are
supposedly
bound
to
uphold,
the
most
pressing
professional
obligation
upon
the
rest
of
us
is
to
make
sure
these
lawyers
never
practice
again.
But
while
these
bottom-feeders
trash
their
oaths
providing
cover
for
constitutional
abuses,
law
students
read
an
op-ed,
recognized
a
repairable
problem
in
American
law,
and
built
a
nationwide
coalition
in
seven
days.
They
managed
to
draft
a
concrete
solution
to
a
problem
Congress
hasn’t
managed
to
figure
out
for
decades.
The
kids,
as
they
say,
are
all
right.
And,
fine,
some
of
the
professors
too.
ICE
Officers
Should
Be
Held
Accountable.
These
Law
School
Students
Know
How.
[The
Nation]
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
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Above
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Law
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Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
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