Leah Litman

And precedent.

Right.

And precedent.

The law, the rule of law, accountability for government officers.

The list goes on.

Democracy, multiracial democracy.

How long do we have?

And they've said, you know, unless you are suing a federal officer for a constitutional violation that basically is on all fours and exactly like one.

One of the three prior cases where we have recognized a Bivens cause of action, you're out of luck.

And so, you know, because we are seeing this unprecedented surge in immigration enforcement, engaging in unprecedented constitutional violations, there aren't prior Bivens cases that say you can sue an officer under these circumstances, even though, like Bivens, you know, for Renee Nicole Good and her family, it is Bivens or nothing.

So I think there are several different explanations.

One is so long as the Supreme Court was like filling in the gap, it was just a less pressing need because there weren't this slew of cases, constitutional violation after constitutional violation.

where the court was saying, you have no remedy.

You can't sue the officer.

So I think that's part of it.

And then, honestly, kind of like the lead-up to the Supreme Court overruling Roe v. Wade, people failed to appreciate the direction that the court was headed in, right?

Like, they didn't see where the court was going when they actually had the opportunity to do something, you know, when they had the supermajority in the Senate, you know, and could have passed, you know, federal protections for...

abortion rights, federal protections for individuals whose constitutional rights are violated by federal officers.

So that's the kind of hindsight's 2020 sad aspect of the story.

The positive spin I am choosing to put on it is as follows.