6/19/20 Mike Maharrey: End Qualified Immunity for Cops - a podcast by Scott Horton

Mike Maharrey untangles the complex web of legal history that has given America the system known as qualified immunity, which in practice shields police officers from just about any civil lawsuit. The doctrine, which has emerged out of the precedents set by repeated federal court rulings, makes it almost impossible to sue state agents for constitutional violations or other damages suffered during the performance of their jobs. This is mainly because the courts have decided that unless there is specific precedent for the situation the officer finds himself in, discretion must be left up to the officer. In the prominent cases this has meant that if a cop shoots a civilian, as long as other cops say that the shooting was reasonable at the time, the officer will walk free. Maharrey calls for a system that doesn’t rely so much on strict interpretation of specific legal precedent, but instead can allow a judge and jury to use some common sense in adjudicating each situation, the way common law systems operated prior to the founding of the United States. However qualified immunity comes to an end, Scott and Maharrey agree that it is the most important first step in creating a more just police system.



Discussed on the show:



“How Federal Courts Gave Us Qualified Immunity” (Tenth Amendment Center)

Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics

Cop Block

“Rep. Justin Amash Wants To End Qualified Immunity. Where Are the Republicans?” (Reason)

“Tamir Rice’s Basically Reasonable Murder” (Simple Justice)



Mike Maharrey is National Communications Coordinator for the Tenth Amendment Center. He is the author of three books on nullification and hosts the Thoughts from Maharrey Head podcast. Find him on Twitter @mmaharrey10th.



This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Listen and Think Audio; TheBumperSticker.com; and LibertyStickers.com.



Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5JNshiwYJw









The following is an automatically generated transcript.



Show TranscriptScott Horton 0:10

All right, y'all welcome it's Scott Horton Show. I am the director of the Libertarian Institute editorial director of antiwar.com, author of the book Fool's Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan. And I've recorded more than 5000 interviews going back to 2003, all of which are available at ScottHorton.org. You can also sign up to the podcast feed. The full archive is also available at youtube.com/ScottHortonShow. Alright you guys introducing the great Mike Maharrey from the 10th amendment center and also from the libertarian Institute where he writes sometimes, but this one's at the 10th amendment center. And I think we reprinted it too anyway. But yeah, it's called how federal courts gave us qualified immunity. Welcome back to the show my carry you



Mike Maharrey 0:59

Hey, Scott, I'm doing great. Always happy to be on with you.



Scott Horton 1:03

Great. I hate this subject, but it's so interesting. But it really is right where the rubber meets the road. So make everyone understand everything there is to know that you know about this subject. Go.



Mike Maharrey 1:19

I'm gonna try to make it as simple as I can because



Scott Horton 1:22

no man make it complicated. I want to know everything, everything.



Mike Maharrey 1:26

Well, I don't want people to get lost in it.



Scott Horton 1:28

Okay, start with a summary and then tell me everything.



Mike Maharrey 1:32

All right. Well,

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