Post by Webster on Apr 15, 2024 10:06:37 GMT -5
(The Guardian) US supreme court rejects Black Lives Matter activist's appeal over protest incident
The US supreme court on Monday allowed a Black Lives Matter activist to be sued by a Louisiana police officer injured during a protest in 2016 in a case that could make it riskier to engage in public demonstrations, a hallmark of American democracy, Reuters reports.
In declining to hear DeRay Mckesson’s appeal, the justices left in place a lower court’s decision reviving a lawsuit by the Baton Rouge police officer, John Ford, who accused him of negligence after being struck by a rock during a protest sparked by the fatal police shooting of a Black man, Alton Sterling, by white officers.
The New Orleans-based fifth US circuit court of appeals in 2023 rejected Mckesson’s defense that his rights to free speech and assembly under the US constitution’s first amendment protect him from the negligence claim.
The Baton Rouge protest was one of numerous demonstrations in the United States in 2015 and 2016 arising from incidents involving police and Black individuals.
The supreme court decision in the Black Lives Matter case not to hear an appeal by DeRay Mckesson, a protester, leaves in place a lower court decision reviving Baton Rouge police officer John Ford’s lawsuit against him.
That lower court, the fifth circuit court of appeals’ decision to allow Ford’s lawsuit could make it easier to sue protest leaders for the illegal conduct of an attendee – an outcome that, according to some legal scholars, could stifle activism seeking political or societal change, Reuters reports.
The killing of Anton Sterling, a Black man, by white police officers in Baton Rouge in 2016 inflamed racial tensions in the city. A protest four days later demanding accountability took place in the area in front of police headquarters.
Ford was among the officers assigned to make arrests of protesters on a public highway. He was struck in the face by a rock or piece of concrete hurled by an unidentified person, losing teeth and suffering head and brain injuries, according to his lawsuit.
Ford’s lawsuit, seeking monetary damages, argued that McKesson should have known from his actions leading the protest that it would turn violent.
Mckesson was arrested on the day of the protest but the charge was later dropped.
US district judge Brian Jackson dismissed Ford’s suit in 2017. But the fifth circuit in 2023 revived it, finding that the first amendment did not bar the negligence claim.
The US supreme court on Monday allowed a Black Lives Matter activist to be sued by a Louisiana police officer injured during a protest in 2016 in a case that could make it riskier to engage in public demonstrations, a hallmark of American democracy, Reuters reports.
In declining to hear DeRay Mckesson’s appeal, the justices left in place a lower court’s decision reviving a lawsuit by the Baton Rouge police officer, John Ford, who accused him of negligence after being struck by a rock during a protest sparked by the fatal police shooting of a Black man, Alton Sterling, by white officers.
The New Orleans-based fifth US circuit court of appeals in 2023 rejected Mckesson’s defense that his rights to free speech and assembly under the US constitution’s first amendment protect him from the negligence claim.
The Baton Rouge protest was one of numerous demonstrations in the United States in 2015 and 2016 arising from incidents involving police and Black individuals.
The supreme court decision in the Black Lives Matter case not to hear an appeal by DeRay Mckesson, a protester, leaves in place a lower court decision reviving Baton Rouge police officer John Ford’s lawsuit against him.
That lower court, the fifth circuit court of appeals’ decision to allow Ford’s lawsuit could make it easier to sue protest leaders for the illegal conduct of an attendee – an outcome that, according to some legal scholars, could stifle activism seeking political or societal change, Reuters reports.
The killing of Anton Sterling, a Black man, by white police officers in Baton Rouge in 2016 inflamed racial tensions in the city. A protest four days later demanding accountability took place in the area in front of police headquarters.
Ford was among the officers assigned to make arrests of protesters on a public highway. He was struck in the face by a rock or piece of concrete hurled by an unidentified person, losing teeth and suffering head and brain injuries, according to his lawsuit.
Ford’s lawsuit, seeking monetary damages, argued that McKesson should have known from his actions leading the protest that it would turn violent.
Mckesson was arrested on the day of the protest but the charge was later dropped.
US district judge Brian Jackson dismissed Ford’s suit in 2017. But the fifth circuit in 2023 revived it, finding that the first amendment did not bar the negligence claim.