In Jamison v. McLendon, District Judge Carlton Reeves drafted a powerfully written and compelling opinion that highlighted a law enforcement officer’s egregious – and unconstitutional – treatment of a suspect in violation of the Fourth Amendment.[1] Then, Judge Reeves let the officer off the hook. Specifically, Judge Reeves held that the qualified immunity doctrine shielded the officer from liability. That conclusion was wrong. By way of background, in Jamison, a law enforcement officer stopped the plaintiff (Jamison) for an alleged license plate tag violation.[2] The officer believed that Jamison had illegal items in his car, although this belief…

This is a guest post by Philip Hall.  Philip is a rising 3L and a member of the Moot Court Board at Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law.  After law school, he will be a civil litigator at the law firm of Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett, P.C. in Erie, Pennsylvania. Unpublished, or “non-precedential,” judicial opinions are especially misunderstood creatures of appellate litigation.  Yet they’re extremely common.  A 2019 report from the Judicial Conference of the United States revealed that in recent years, almost ninety percent of federal appellate opinions have been designated as non-precedential.  If you’ve ever cited…