Over at SCOTUSblog, Lyle Denniston is reporting that the Supreme Court handed down Scott v. Harris (the car chase excessive force case) this morning. As co-counsel for Scott, I’m happy to report that the Supreme Court reversed the 11th Circuit and ruled in Scott’s favor:
In an 8-1 decision, the Court ruled that police do not act unconstitutionally when they try to stop a suspect fleeing at high speed by ramming the suspect’s car from the rear, forcing it to crash. The car chase that led to the bumping and crash, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the Court, posed “a substantial and immediate risk of serious physical injury to others.” Thus, the attempt to terminate the chase by forcing the car off the road was “reasonable” under the Fourth Amendment. Justice Stevens dissented alone; he took a step that is somewhat unusual for him, reciting orally from the bench his reasons for disagreeing with his colleagues.
I’ll post a link to the opinion when it becomes available.
UPDATE: The opinion is here.