The Supreme Court issued a per curiam opinion yesterday in an excessive force case, Mullenix v. Luna, essentially holding that unless “existing precedent placed the conclusion that [the officer] acted unreasonably in these circumstances ‘beyond debate,'” the officer would be immune from a suit for damages. The debate between the concurrence and single dissent is interesting, especially since Justice Sotomayor is the dissenter. As a former prosecutor, she tends to be pretty sympathetic to security issues.
