In 1978, the Supreme Court held that individuals can sue local governments for constitutional violations in federal court. Indeed, the Court held that Congress had always intended for such suits to be available — ever since it passed the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. However, the standard that the Court says plaintiffs must meet to get their municipal liability claims before a jury is exceedingly high, and getting higher.
On Part 2 of our episode on municipal liability under Section 1983, we find out if Sylvia Perkins mustered enough evidence of dysfunction at the Little Rock Police Department to get her day in court against the city.
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Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Stitcher.
Please click here to learn more about friend-of-the-podcast Coleman Watson's stroke and recovery.
Released:
Jun 21, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (32)
Bound by Oath is a new podcast series by IJ’s Center for Judicial Engagement where the Constitution’s past catches up with the present. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution requires every judge to be “bound by Oath” to uphold “this Constitution.” But to understand if judges are following that oath, it’s important to ask, “What is in ‘this Constitution’?” In this upcoming podcast series, Short Circuit takes a deep dive into specific parts of the Constitution, starting with the 14th Amendment, which turned 150 in 2018. “Bound by Oath” features interviews with historians, legal scholars, and the real people involved in historic and contemporary cases.
