Circuit judge critiques qualified immunity, calls it ‘ill-founded’

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted October 18, 2022 12:04 PM

Dissenting from a decision that affirmed summary judgment for police officers in Middletown, Conn., who allegedly unleashed a dog on William McKinney in a small holding cell when they were trying to transfer him to a padded cell, Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi started by faulting the majority for misapplying “the familiar summary judgment standards” and closed with an appendix detailing “why the doctrine of qualified immunity — misbegotten and misguided — should go.”The sensible solution in excessive-force cases, Calabresi …

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