Thus begins the Sixth Circuit's decision in Bray v. Planned Parenthood, 746 F.3d 229 (6th Cir. 2014), a case that illustrates how the doctrine of qualified immunity has been bent by the Sixth Circuit and other courts to sanction the abuse of some while insulating outrageous abuses of power from redress or accountability. The individuals whose conduct was thus described won their case, because, according to the Sixth Circuit, the constitutional rights alleged to have been violated had not been clearly established previously. In other words, the Sixth Circuit in the 21st century ruled that reasonable police officers would not have been aware that Americans had any rights and that they were free to act with same impunity as Chairman Mao's Red Guards.
Circuit Judge John Rogers authored the Sixth Circuit's opinion sanctioning the staggering abuse of power by the defendants.
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