WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the Trump administration weakens the few remaining mechanisms for independently investigating government misconduct, a police-shooting case left undisturbed by the U.S. Supreme Court warns that lawful firearm possession could be transformed from a constitutional right into grounds for being shot by police without warning.
In Green v. Tanner, judges—not a jury—decided that a police officer acted reasonably in shooting an armed, off-duty officer outside his own home, despite disputed evidence about what the shooting officer saw and whether the victim appeared to pose a threat. The appeals court relied on the sweeping proposition that no constitutional or statutory right prevents an officer from using deadly force when faced with “an apparently loaded weapon.” In appealing to the Supreme Court, The Rutherford Institute, Cato Institute, Law Enforcement Action Partnership and the Southern Center for Human Rights warned that the ruling threatens the Second Amendment right to bear arms, the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable force, and the Seventh Amendment right to have disputed facts decided by a jury.
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