Global Ganja Report

The US Supreme Court ruled June 12 in favor of an Atlanta family attempting to sue the federal government for damages after their home was mistakenly raided by an FBI Special Weapons & Tactics (SWAT) team.

The unanimous decision rejected a lower court's ruling and remanded the case for further proceedings. Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered the court’s opinion, with a concurring opinion filed by Justice Sonia Sotomayor and joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. The court analyzed 28 U.S. Code § 2680, which defines exceptions to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), a law allowing those who are injured by federal employees to sue the government for damages. The justices held that the FTCA’s Law Enforcement Proviso overrides the tort exceptions defined in subsection 2680(h), and allows lawsuits against the US government when certain torts (infringements of rights) are committed by law enforcement officers.

The court also rejected the lower court’s Supremacy Clause defense, which cited Article VI of the Constitution, and argued that the government may escape liability for actions have "some nexus with furthering federal policy." The court held that the FTCA is the supreme federal law that establishes government tort liability, and the government can be held liable equivalent to a “private individual under like circumstances.”

In October 2017, an FBI SWAT team conducted a predawn raid on the wrong house in a suburban area of Atlanta, Georgia. Intending to execute search and arrest warrants at a suspected gang hideout, FBI agents instead stormed into a quiet family home with a similar address. After breaching the front door and detonating a flash-bang grenade, agents threw the family members onto the ground and placed them in handcuffs.

The family sued the federal government in 2019 under the FTCA, bringing claims of negligence, trespass, infliction of emotional distress, assault and battery, and false imprisonment.

A federal judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia dismissed the lawsuit in 2022, and the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that dismissal in 2024. The rulings held that FBI agents did not violate the family's Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure because “reasonable efforts” had been made to identify the correct house. The courts also applied an interpretation of the Supremacy Clause. The Eleventh Circuit asserted that FBI agents acted within their discretionary authority in compliance with federal law and that their actions were protected because of a "nexus with furthering federal policy." The case is now remanded back to the Eleventh Circuit for consideration in light of the Supreme Court ruling.

The Supreme Court's ruling strengthens future efforts to seek compensation for federal law enforcement misconduct and clarifies the legal framework used to analyze these cases. It cmes at a time when the ability of citizens to seek redress for such conducts is being bottlenecked by the Trump administration.

From JURIST, June 13. Used with permission.

Photo by Delta Mike 

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