Eric André and Clayton English scored a big-time authorized victory in Atlanta after a federal appeals courtroom dominated their racial discrimination lawsuit in opposition to Clayton County police might proceed, reversing a decrease courtroom’s dismissal.
The Eleventh Circuit Court docket of Appeals issued a 44-page opinion on August 16 that reinstated the civil rights case, which claims each comedians have been unlawfully stopped and questioned at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport by officers from the county’s Airport Interdiction Unit.
The courtroom discovered their allegations “plausibly allege violations of the Fourth Modification.”
The ruling, authored by Choose Elizabeth L. Department — a Trump appointee — acknowledged that “plaintiffs plausibly alleged that Clayton County’s drug interdiction program directs the county’s officers to violate passengers’ Fourth Modification rights by conducting unreasonable seizures of the passengers.”
André and English have been livid after they have been individually stopped on jet bridges with out suspicion of wrongdoing and interrogated about drug possession.
They mentioned the stops have been racially motivated and a part of a broader sample of unconstitutional habits by legislation enforcement.
“I used to be flying again from South Carolina and connecting in Atlanta to fly house from a piece journey. I used to be filming Righteous Gem stones, the HBO present. And Atlanta was my connecting flight. So once I obtained to the gate, the gate agent ripped my ticket, every part was going as regular. I’m boarding with the enterprise class passengers, all white folks in entrance of me and behind me on this little slim, claustrophobic, awkward jet bridge,” Eric André mentioned.
“These two cops type of, like, appeared out of nowhere, singled me out. They usually have been like, now we have purpose to consider that there’s medication going by means of this airport. Are you promoting medication? Are you shopping for medication? Are you on crystal meth? Are you on heroin, cocaine? And clearly, it was racial profiling and discrimination,” André added.
Knowledge obtained by their authorized workforce reveals that in the course of the eight months surrounding their stops, 402 vacationers have been detained by the Airport Interdiction Unit.
Of these whose race was recorded, 56 p.c have been Black — regardless of Black passengers making up solely 8 p.c of home vacationers on the airport. Statisticians estimate the possibility of that disparity taking place randomly is lower than one in 100 trillion.
The courtroom sided with the plaintiffs on their Fourth Modification claims however upheld the dismissal of their Equal Safety declare, saying the criticism didn’t sufficiently allege that any officer acted with discriminatory intent.
Barry Friedman, College Director of the Policing Mission at NYU Regulation, argued the case earlier than the courtroom.
“In america, you is probably not seized or have your belongings searched until you actually voluntarily consent or the federal government has no less than affordable suspicion to justify the seizure. By no means has that primary constitutional precept been extra essential,” Friedman mentioned. “We’re glad that the federal courtroom of appeals has reaffirmed that precept and acknowledged the validity of our shoppers’ Fourth Modification claims.”
The lawsuit, initially filed in October 2022, was dismissed by a district courtroom in September 2023.
André and English appealed the choice in January 2024. The case is now headed again to trial courtroom, the place additional proof concerning the police program is predicted to be revealed.
The case has drawn assist from entertainers together with Tyler Perry, Jamie Foxx and Taraji P. Henson, in addition to authorized organizations just like the NAACP Authorized Protection Fund and the Cato Institute.
Associated
