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Video Evidence And Summary Judgment: The Procedure Of Scott V. Harris, Howard Wasserman
Video Evidence And Summary Judgment: The Procedure Of Scott V. Harris, Howard Wasserman
Howard M Wasserman
In Scott v. Harris (2007), the Supreme Court granted summary judgment on a Fourth Amendment excessive-force claim brought by a motorist injured when a pursuing law-enforcement officer terminated a high-speed pursuit by bumping the plaintiff's car. The Court relied almost exclusively on a video of the chase captured from the officer's dash-mounted camera and disregarded witness testimony that contradicted the video. In granting summary judgment in this circumstance, the Court fell sway to the myth of video evidence as able to speak for itself, as an objective, unambiguous, and singularly accurate depiction of real-world events, not subject to any interpretation …
Rejecting Sovereign Immunity In Public Law Litigation, Howard M. Wasserman
Rejecting Sovereign Immunity In Public Law Litigation, Howard M. Wasserman
Howard M Wasserman
No abstract provided.
Moral Panics And Body Cameras, Howard M. Wasserman
Moral Panics And Body Cameras, Howard M. Wasserman
Howard M Wasserman
This Commentary uses the lens of "moral panics" to evaluate public support for equipping law enforcement with body cameras as a response and solution to events in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014. Body cameras are a generally good policy idea. But the rhetoric surrounding them erroneously treats them as the single guaranteed solution to the problem of excessive force and police-citizen conflicts, particularly by ignoring the limitations of video evidence and the difficult questions of implementing any body camera program. In overstating the case, the rhetoric of body cameras becomes indistinguishable from rhetoric surrounding responses to past moral panics.
Epilogue: Moral Panics And Body Cameras, Howard M. Wasserman
Epilogue: Moral Panics And Body Cameras, Howard M. Wasserman
Howard M Wasserman
This brief follow-up to Moral Panics and Body Cameras comments on the weeks after that essay was published and what those events show about the efficacy of body cameras and video evidence as a response to police-public conflicts.
Civil Rights Plaintiffs And John Doe Defendants: A Study In § 1983 Procedure, Howard M. Wasserman
Civil Rights Plaintiffs And John Doe Defendants: A Study In § 1983 Procedure, Howard M. Wasserman
Howard M Wasserman
No abstract provided.
Iqbal, Procedural Mismatches, And Civil Rights Litigation, Howard M. Wasserman
Iqbal, Procedural Mismatches, And Civil Rights Litigation, Howard M. Wasserman
Howard M Wasserman
Understanding the twin pleading cases of Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal from the vantage point of only a few months (or even years) requires as much prediction as explanation. Early confusion is a product of the long-heralded link between substance and procedure. What we are seeing now may be less about Court-imposed changes to procedure as about changes to substantive law and a "mismatch " between new substance and the old procedure of the Federal Rules. Much of the current business of federal courts involves constitutional litigation under 42 U.S. C. §S 1983 and Bivens, a …
Orwell’S Vision: Video And The Future Of Civil Rights Enforcement, Howard M. Wasserman
Orwell’S Vision: Video And The Future Of Civil Rights Enforcement, Howard M. Wasserman
Howard M Wasserman
No abstract provided.
Civil Rights And Federal Courts: Creating A Two-Course Sequence, Howard M. Wasserman
Civil Rights And Federal Courts: Creating A Two-Course Sequence, Howard M. Wasserman
Howard M Wasserman
No abstract provided.