Posted on 01/09/2013 3:01:18 PM PST by Red in Blue PA
WASHINGTON, June 27 - The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the police did not have a constitutional duty to protect a person from harm, even a woman who had obtained a court-issued protective order against a violent husband making an arrest mandatory for a violation.
The decision, with an opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia and dissents from Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, overturned a ruling by a federal appeals court in Colorado. The appeals court had permitted a lawsuit to proceed against a Colorado town, Castle Rock, for the failure of the police to respond to a woman's pleas for help after her estranged husband violated a protective order by kidnapping their three young daughters, whom he eventually killed.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This ruling is morally and legally wrong.
You are confusing law and justice.
Presently in the US we have law and Just Us.
I agree with this decision. As citizens, we do not and should not have a “constitutional right” to government services.
I haven’t read it yet, but this seem like a reaffirmance of DeShaney v. Winnebago County (1989), otherwise known as the “poor Joshua” case. Joshua was a child beaten to the point of brain damage by his father, even though the city’s child protective agency had sufficient notice to prevent it. The Supreme Court held that the city was under no affirmative obligation, under the Due Process Clause, to protect the child against an evil committed by a private actor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeShaney_v._Winnebago_County
The Supreme Court was right then and it’s right now.
I agree, but most people do not know this case exists! Show them and they are shaken.
I have a right to self-defense, and this right comes from God, not from government.
Which is why we need Right to Self Defense laws.
Of course, In my area we are trying to lynch George Zimmerman for capping Trayvon Martin when Martin assaulted him.
Gun Control is just population control. Everyone has a right to self defense
I am reading the comments here and asking myself if this is really the comments from a conservative forum.
A federal “constitutional” duty for citizens or office holders to perform in a certain manner for any issue to a certain standard of care sounds like a pandora’s box to me.
A state ruling in a suit of mandamus is what the rememdy is for willful non performance of a state duty. The ability of someone to always go to Federal Court and claim broad aspects of equal protection compel perfect protection and having the Feds be the final remedy in all cases is stupid IMHO.
The primary duty of the Police is to enforce the law.
Protection of individual life was rule to be secondary to this objective. The two objectives often come into conflict.
Select vegetation enslavement program.
You hit the nail on the head. Rights come from God, not the government.
Okay, that means we all must protect ourselves and we need our guns to do that in a lawless society the Satan now leads.
Duh! Read the constitution lately? People have a natural right to self defense!
Gives governments an excuse to spend money.
When everything hits the fan, and it may be closer than any of us think, remember the police are minutes away after you dial 9-1-1 and the criminal that is threatening you and yours is less than a second away. Any questions?
Interesting that this is a reverification of an old decision that Police do not have a constitutional duty to protect as I grew up seeing the police cars stenciled “to protect, and to serve”.
I recently read an acknowlegement as an andecdote in another column here at FR that many police departments had removed that phrase from their patrol cars, and wondered why.
OK, I'll agree with that.
I'll expand, as well.
Your right to keep and bear arms comes from God, and is enumerated in the Constitution's Second Amendment. No one but the Good Lord Himself, can rescind that right.
That makes clear which side Satan is on.
The cops got sued into submission, they did not voluntarily admit the legal untruthfulness of the slogan.
This is tough for some people to swallow, but police, fire, and ambulance folks have no duty to act. That’s why everyone should have the ability, at thier option, to keep and bear arms, have a fire extinguisher, and have a first-aid kit. If we become so dependent for everything, we’ll wind up with nothing. Some want to confiscate all guns, which is similar to banning fire extinguishers and first aid kits, and depending on the state for all of these things.
true
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