2020—Reversing the district court, a Tenth Circuit panel consisting of three Obama appointees rules (in Bond v. City of Tahlequah) that two police officers sued for alleged use of excessive force are not entitled to qualified immunity.
In October 2021, the Supreme Court will summarily reverse the Tenth Circuit. The Court concludes that in determining whether the officers violated clearly established rights, the panel contravened the Court’s repeated advice “not to define clearly established law at too high a level of generality.” “Not one of the decisions relied upon by the [panel],” the Court explains, “comes close to establishing that the officers’ conduct was unlawful.”