University violated student's speech rights. Courts let it go.
Welcome to the beginning of a new week. Here's what we have from today and over the weekend:
University violated student's speech rights. Courts let it go.
By Tyson Langhofer and John Bursch
“Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”
You may have heard this response from a police officer if you have ever tried to get out of a speeding ticket by arguing you were unaware of the speed limit.
It is also one of the most recognized maxims of the American legal system. And for good reason. If subjective knowledge of the law were the standard for culpability, everyone would always plead ignorance after violating the law.
So it may come as a surprise that government officials regularly evade liability for violating citizens’ most fundamental constitutional rights by relying on an argument very similar to the “I didn’t know” defense. The legal term for this defense is “qualified immunity.”
Today's Editorial Cartoon
Why are the polls so wrong? Increasingly, Americans can't trust them.
By Ross K. Baker
One of the things pollsters have known for years but have been unwilling to face up to, because their business is so lucrative and marketable, is that a combination of technological changes, like modeling, and a disposition by those being polled to lie or deceive pollsters with answers that they deem to be more socially acceptable have rendered these surveys practically useless, especially in close elections.
The excuses trotted out by pollsters after the election in 2016, in which Hillary Clinton was predicted to be an easy winner, were a combination of two lame explanations: The first is that the polls were correct as far as the national electorate was concerned – Clinton did win the popular vote – but that state-level polls were inaccurate. The second was that missing the level of Trump’s support was the result of respondents not being upfront with pollsters.
This was known as the “shy Trump voter” problem: Many voters thought that admitting to supporting Trump was not entirely respectable, so the respondent told the pollsters what they thought the pollsters wanted to hear – which was a preference for Clinton.
Ban airline passengers who disrupt flights. And make it permanent.
By The Editorial Board
The conduct of these passengers is intolerable, and flight attendants are pleading with airlines, airports and the federal government to do more about it.
Flying is a privilege, not a right, and the nation knows all too well what can unfold when passengers act out or worse at 30,000 feet. In some instances, others on board have bravely helped restrain the unruly.
But there needs to be a clear message that if alcohol or wearing a mask or simply being an angry person drives someone to abusive or violent behavior during a flight, they automatically forfeit the prerogative to fly commercially.
Some columns from over the weekend
- Building a new era of engagement between tribal nations and the federal government
- Joe Biden wants your boss to be his enforcer on COVID vaccinations
- COVID precautions: How family resolved dispute about masks and vaccine
- Faced with a legacy of slavery, my college chose to honor the enslaved
Columns on qualified immunity
We are doing a series examining the issue of qualified immunity. For more on the series read here.
- Ben & Jerry: We white people need to use our power to fight police abuse
- Supreme Court just doubled down on flawed qualified immunity rule
- Calls to reform qualified immunity are coming from left and right. I'm still skeptical.
- Courts must hold rogue cops accountable everywhere — even at the dentist
This newsletter was compiled by Jaden Amos.