The theory of "qualified immunity" has come under increasing criticism by voices on the left and the right in recent months, but those calls proved insufficient to interest the justices in any of the cases turned down Monday.
wrote as he dissented from the court's refusal to hear Baxter's case.
Some liberals have also been sharply critical of the doctrine, including Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who skewered it in a 2015 opinion.
However, the court seems to have had trouble finding the appropriate vehicle to address the issue. At least three qualified immunity cases were also turned down by the justices last month. It takes four justices to grant review in a case.
The doctrine not only benefits police but other government employees, like hospital workers, firefighters and paramedics. It has no direct application to criminal prosecutions for police misconduct such as unjustified shootings, which tend to be even harder to win than civil suits.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Baxter at the Supreme Court, expressed regret that the justices declined to take the case.
"“The Supreme Court’s deeply disappointing decision today to punt on the critical issue of official immunity, in this time of national reckoning over police violence, places the ball squarely in Congress’s court," ACLU legal director David Cole said in a statement.
"We have seen the deadly consequences play out on the streets, and Black Americans have largely paid the price. Recent events demonstrate the urgent need for Congress to stand up for the rule of law and abolish qualified immunity — for anyone acting under color of law — to close the loophole allowing government officials to escape accountability for violating constitutional rights," he added.
to all othem RGB included
