Recent Civil Rights Law Decisions

The first rule of legal research is: always cite check.

If you don’t, Judge Richard Posner will compare you to a really ugly bird.

Tiberius Mays is a former inmate of the Illinois state prison at Statesville. While a resident at the facility, he enjoyed many first-class amenities, including protracted group strip searches. When he complained, and filed suit, the inmates were allegedly subjected to an even more protracted strip search, with dirty gloves, in front of other prisoners, while the guards mocked the inmates’ bodies and genitalia.

Predictably, he sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, arguing, amongst other things, cruel and unusual punishment.

No one ever said that a jail cell should be comfortable, but Richard Budd claims in a civil rights lawsuit that pretrial detention conditions in the Edgar County, Illinois Jail were downright unlivable.

Budd alleges that he was subject to unconstitutional conditions of confinement as an Edgar County pretrial detainee, and that the sheriff was deliberately indifferent to his medical needs. After a video conference to screen Budd’s complaint, the district court dismissed his action for failure to state a claim. The court, however, never prepared a transcript of the proceedings and it failed to issue a written statement of reasons for the decision.

According to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Budd’s claims were actionable.

Guy Westmoreland may be one of "the bad guys," but he got a pretty rough deal from the government.

First he moved for a new murder trial after learning that an Illinois State Police agent had an affair with his wife while the state was building a case against Westmoreland. Then, the district court waited eight years to deny his motion.

Though the cops and the district court weren't very cool about the case, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals declined to offer relief.

In December, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held in a 2-1 decision that an Illinois ban on carrying a weapon in public is unconstitutional.

In striking the law, Judge Richard Posner said that Illinois had to provide the court with more than merely a rational basis for asserting that its sweeping ban was justified by an increase in public safety. The court, however, stayed its ruling for 180 days to allow the Illinois legislature to craft a new gun law.

The decision was controversial, particularly after the Sandy Hook school shooting that happened only three days later, but controversy isn't enough to guarantee en banc rehearing. Last week, the Seventh Circuit declined to reconsider its decision.

Cindy Abbott sued Sangamon County and local law enforcement officers for a slew of civil rights violations after she was tased. The County and the cops claimed qualified immunity -- as both are wont to do -- and the district court dismissed the claims.

This week, the Seventh Circuit reinstated Cindy's excessive force claims, reasoning that a jury should decide whether a cop was justified in tasering Cindy repeatedly after hitting her car.

Of course, the case involves so much more than just a fender bender. Let's jump right into what made this plaintiff hopping mad.

Indiana sex offenders can resume tweeting, thanks to a recent decision from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Wednesday, the Chicago-based appellate court overturned an Indiana law banning sex offenders from social networks, IndyStar.com reports.

As you know, qualified immunity often shields cops who have behaved badly. This year, however, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals took big steps in reining in qualified immunity by tackling a number of cases involving bad police judgment.

Below, we've included three of the more interesting cases in which qualified immunity was denied this year.

Illinois law bars people from carrying loaded, accessible guns. There are exceptions for police and other security personnel, hunters, and members of target shooting clubs. There are more exceptions for a person on his own property or in his home. An apartment dweller can have a gun in his unit, but not in the building’s common areas. Carrying an unloaded gun in public is prohibited, unless carried openly outside a vehicle in an unincorporated area without accessible ammo.

In other words, it’s complicated.

Tuesday, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeal un-complicated the state’s carry laws. In a 2-1 decision, the appellate court found the ban on carrying a weapon in public unconstitutional, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Maybe you have seen Exit Through the Gift Shop, a delightful documentary about a French guy trying to make a documentary about the street art movement. There are several scenes in which police officers try to thwart the artists/hooligans' attempts to leave their marks on buildings. The aforementioned French guy caught the interactions on tape.

Cop-recording can be controversial. Most police officers don't want bystanders to tape them while they're working, and some cops will intimidate or arrest people who try to film them with their cellphones. Citizens who try to record the police -- like the Frenchman in the film -- are often told to shut off their cameras.

After any election season, there will be a crop of newly-elected officials eager to start changing the world. There will also be a crop of newly-unemployed bureaucrats, who lose their gigs because they backed the wrong candidates.

While many employees can't be fired for their political leanings, those who hold "policymaking positions" can be unceremoniously booted when there's a changing of the guard.

And it's completely legal under the Elrod-Branti analysis.