• gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    6 days ago

    That sounds like a good principle in the abstract, and that Nieves v Bartlett case was a pile of turds that basically made it impossible to argue an arrest was ever retaliatory, but I don’t look forward to how our judges are going to actually interpret and apply this. The difference between intending to prosecute legitimate criminal behavior and intending to punish someone for political behavior is fuzzy as hell and gives judges all sorts of room to shield their friends from consequences while ensuring people they don’t like can still be punished for their speech.

    Like, it’s no coincidence that it took a libertarian law firm representing a couple of seventy year old women who were trying to get a younger city manager fired to get the justices to take a second look at retaliation doctrines.