The Supreme Court issued a decision Tuesday making it easier for Americans to sue police departments for “malicious prosecution.”
The 6-3 ruling stems from a lawsuit in New York City after an innocent man was jailed for 48 hours after officers mistakenly accused him of abusing a two-year-old girl.
“The question of whether a criminal defendant was wrongly charged does not logically depend on whether the prosecutor or court explained why the prosecution was dismissed,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority. “And the individual’s ability to seek redress for a wrongful prosecution cannot reasonably turn on the fortuity of whether the prosecutor or court happened to explain why the charges were dismissed.”
The Supreme Court’s minority opinion was penned by Justice Samuel Alito.
“What the Court has done is to recognize a novel hybrid claim of uncertain scope that has no basis in the Constitution and is almost certain to lead to confusion,” Alito wrote.
Read the full report here.
