Yet under qualified immunity, it’s incredibly difficult for the public to sue police.
by Billy Binion
Reason.com
Police officers have difficult jobs, and, in some sense, are charged with protecting the public’s right to free speech. It is with that in mind that the local legislature in Nassau County, New York, has passed a bill that could serve to limit the First Amendment rights of those who criticize cops.
“It is the judgment of this Legislature that the recent widespread pattern of physical attacks and intimidation directed at the police has undermined the civil liberties of the community at large,” reads proposed local law No. 2021, introduced by Legislator Joshua A. Lafazan, an Independent. “Such violence is therefore a direct assault on the rule of law, every bit as much as suppression of speech by public authorities.”