This week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear McKesson v. Doe. The case involves a police officer injured during a Black Lives Matter protest after the police murder of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La in 2016. The injured police officer sued the organizer –DeRay McKesson– for damages. Last year, the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit sided with the officer. The Supreme Court, for a second time, has declined to hear the case.
Listen in: https://bit.ly/3Wb8HLz
The impact of the Supreme Court’s decision to decline to hear the case is potentially devastating for organizers of mass protests.
In our latest, Scott talks with movement lawyer Maggie Ellinger-Locke (@ellingerlocke) about the case and the precedent it may be setting up.
Bio// Maggie Ellinger-Locke, she/her, is a movement lawyer based in the Washington DC area, living on the stolen land of the Anacostan and Piscataway peoples. She works for the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University School of Law, where she helps train the next generation of movement lawyers. Previously she worked as a staff attorney at Greenpeace USA, and has also worked in public policy and private practice. She is currently co-chair of the DC chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.
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