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Pottawattamie County v. McGhee Amicus Brief: Lawsuit Doublespeak

[Editor: In Pottawattamie County v. McGhee, the most interesting Section 1983 this Term, the Supreme Court will determine whether a prosecutor who manufactured evidence should be held liable for money damages.  An amicus brief, filed on behalf of state and federal prosecutors, is unpersuasive.  In three separate posts, we'll examine why.  Below is the third post.  Click here for the second post; here for the third.]Showing that they did not sleep through 1984, the Brief contains this doublespeak:There is no evidence that the further prospect of civil liability is necessary to deter prosecutorial misconduct. To the contrary, evidence suggests that civil liability will not be an effective remedy for would-be plaintiffs. The most thorough study of constitutional tort claims found that "constitutional tort plaintiffs do significantly worse than non-civil rights litigants in every measurable way...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime & Federalism on September 10, 2009 (boomark / email).