In January 2015, the Seventh Circuit, recognizing that it was an outlier among the Circuits in holding that pretrial detainees could not sue under the Fourth Amendment but rather instead sued under the Due Process Clause to challenge his/her detention, stated that a request by a detainee to overturn settled Circuit precedent was “better left for the Supreme Court.” In the Supreme Court’s words, it granted cert “on cue,” and on March 16, 2017, overturned the Seventh Circuit’s precedent by holding that pretrial detainees retained the right to sue under the Fourth Amendment over their detention for unlawful search and seizure. The Court held that the Fourth Amendment governs a claim for unlawful pretrial detention even beyond the start of legal process.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Reins in the Seventh Circuit and Reaffirms Fourth Amendment Protections
criminal law
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Opens Door to Prospective Denial of Counsel Claims against Counties
By Crystal Clark on
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently announced its decision in the case of Kuren, et al. v. Luzerne County, et al., 57 MAP 2015 and 58 MAP 2015, finding that indigent defendants can be “constructively” denied counsel where underfunding of the Public Defender’s Office creates “widespread, systematic deficiencies” that “deprive indigent defendants of the traditional…