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Prosecutors Should Feel the Chill

Sometimes someone says something so crisp that one can only feel awe and jealousy. Justice Sotomayor put me and everyone else to shame during oral arguments in Pottawattamie County v. McGhee. §§§ During the oral arguments in Pottawattamie, Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Alito and Breyer kept niggling over the alleged ?chilling effect? that allowing a lawsuit to proceed against unethical prosecutors, would have on ethical prosecutors. Do the innocent really become fearful when the guilty are brought to justice? A Department of Justice lawyer brought up the chilling effect argument: And if prosecutors have to worry at trial that every act they undertake will somehow open up the door to liability, then they will flinch in the performance of their duties and not introduce that evidence...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime & Federalism on November 06, 2009 (boomark / email).