Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a little-noted but important decision about the circumstances under which plaintiffs alleging constitutional violations by cities (as opposed to individual employees) could win on the theory that a city had failed to train its employees properly. This ruling follows a November 2010 ruling in which the Court addressed the important issue of the standards governing municipal liability for injunctive and declaratory relief (as opposed to monetary damages).
Given the potential for disaster every time a civil rights case goes to the current Supreme Court, these two rulings may be most notable not for anything new that came out of them but for their affirmation of the legal standards governing the municipal liability that is so important for obtaining widespread injunctive relief or for securing a deep pocket for monetary damages. Last week’s decision, however, is deeply troubling because of the position the Court took about the need to train prosecutors about their obligations to disclose exculpatory materials to criminal defendants.
At the Brink of Execution
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