Ian Millhiser

They took out the injunction.

They put the injunction on hold.

And while the full court did not explain itself, Justice Brett Kavanaugh did.

And part of his argument went back to this 1980s era decision called City of Los Angeles v. Lyons.

The facts of Lyons are very tragic.

There is a man who was choked out, or at least allegedly choked out, by a Los Angeles Police Department officer.

And what the Supreme Court said is that he cannot get an injunction preventing the LAPD from choking people unless he could show that he personally is likely to be choked by an L.A.

police officer again.

So here again, there used to be some very serious protections against law, at least federal law enforcement abuse, and they basically no longer exist.

So it used to be the case that if a federal law enforcement officer violates your constitutional rights or, you know, commit some other legal violation, you could sue the officer.

And that was an effective deterrent.

You know, officers, if they knew that they personally might not be able to pay their mortgage if they break the law, would be less likely to break the law.

But the Supreme Court has not entirely overruled the case that used to say that you were allowed to sue federal officers under these circumstances was called Bivens.

And the Supreme Court hasn't overruled Bivens explicitly, but they've come pretty damn close.

There was a case maybe five years ago called Hernandez v. Mesa.

The allegations in this case were essentially there were a group of Mexican teenagers who were playing a game by the border where they would run up to the border or like to a wall or something at the edge of the border.

They would touch it and run back, you know, and that was the game that they were playing.

And the allegation is that a Border Patrol officer shot one of these Mexican teenagers in cold blood.

And the Supreme Court said even if the plaintiffs, it was the boy's family, could prove that, yes, this was a murder, that this officer just pulled out his gun and shot this kid in the face, nothing can be done.

The third is a little more promising, but it is much weaker.