Courts have repeatedly ruled that colleges and universities violate the First Amendment rights of professors when they retaliate against them for having said things administrators dislike. Nevertheless, such cases continue to arise. Victories for freedom of speech have not stopped the abuse of power by intolerant officials.
The reason why is that those officials don’t have to fear personal liability for their actions. The school might lose, but the officials won’t have to pay for the costs they caused. The money to pay damages comes from the school, not from them. And why is that? The answer is “qualified immunity.”
All "qualified immunity" does is allow people to get away with crimes the rest of us are put in jail for.
ReplyDeleteJust like the "civil forfeiture" law that allows police to confiscate money without due process. In other words, government condoned theft.
Nemo
Free speech does not mean free from repercussions.
ReplyDeleteQualified immunity should not exist, if you are wrong about something being immune to rebuke should not happen...
JD