Dear John:

I wanted to tell you about two trailblazing studies published by the Institute for Justice this year.

The first study—Unaccountable ([link removed] ) —analyzes thousands of federal appeals court decisions to shed light on the controversial legal doctrine of qualified immunity, a special protection for government officials facing lawsuits. Most people associate qualified immunity with police misconduct. But only a quarter of the cases analyzed involved police accused of excessive force. The remaining cases involved an array of officials, from social workers to university deans to mayors. One in five cases concerned First Amendment violations, often premeditated retaliation for speech.

This study adds to growing research showing that qualified immunity fails to accomplish its proponents’ goals. Rather than protecting officials from burdensome lawsuits for good-faith mistakes, it all too often protects intentional, malicious misconduct and makes lawsuits longer, more expensive, and more complicated.

The second study we released ([link removed] ) quantifies, for the first time, just how much private property in America is subject to warrantless searches. Thanks to a Prohibition-era legal precedent known as the open fields doctrine, only the land immediately surrounding a home receives protection under the Fourth Amendment.

The results were staggering: Nearly 96% of all private land in the country is open to government trespass, which includes activities like covert surveillance, placing cameras, removing cameras from property, and more.

Shortly before the publication of this report, we launched our fourth case challenging the open fields doctrine—this time in Louisiana—where game wardens from the state have repeatedly trespassed on private land without warrants or even suspicion of wrongdoing.

Strategic research is an important part of our multifaceted public interest litigation strategy, and we have lots of exciting reports coming this year!

Thank you for being a part of our comprehensive approach to transformative legal change.

Kim

Kim Norberg

Director of Donor Communications

Institute for Justice

P.S. We also have a new podcast, Beyond the Brief, that goes beyond the surface of IJ’s lawsuits and delves deep into the heart of the legal battles that matter. You’ll hear about the abuses of power that threaten our constitutional rights and the stories of brave Americans who are fighting back. You can listen to the first episode ([link removed] ) on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

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