Dear John:

Building upon our two victories last term, we learned late this afternoon that IJ is heading back to the U.S. Supreme Court this term as well!

The Court granted our petition to hear the case of an Atlanta family harmed by a mistaken FBI SWAT raid on their home. Despite the trauma inflicted on this wholly innocent family, the federal government refused to offer them any compensation and claimed, of course, immunity from suit.

The facts of this case are startling but not uncommon—as you might expect from reading about many similar IJ cases. Trina Martin, her partner Toi, and Trina’s then seven-year-old son Gabe, were jolted awake by the sound of a flashbang grenade exploding in their living room. Toi, fearing that the home was being robbed, pulled Trina into the bedroom closet and reached for his legally owned gun. Just as he was about to grab it, an FBI agent barged in, threw him to the ground, and began interrogating him and Trina. All the while, Gabe was separated from his mother as officers stormed into his bedroom with guns drawn.

When Toi told the agents his address, it dawned on them that they had raided the wrong house. The FBI had a warrant—for a house with a different address number on a different street.

Trina, Gabe, and Toi are fighting for accountability after FBI agents wrongly raided their home.

Luckily for this family, they have a federal statute on their side, the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), which was amended to compensate victims for this very type of negligence by federal agents. But, as you might guess, courts keep carving out exceptions to the clear language of the statute. In fact, the federal appellate court in this case ruled against the family, claiming that because FBI agents have “discretionary authority” to raid the wrong house, sovereign immunity barred the claims.

Amazingly, it seems like we now have higher expectations and standards for food delivery drivers than for federal agents executing a violent raid. And if DoorDash delivers to the wrong house, you might actually get some compensation. Not so with the government.

The actions of the FBI agents here occur too frequently in other parts of the country. In Indiana, we’re fighting for a mom who watched the destruction of her house by a SWAT team searching for a fugitive that was not in her home, and in Texas we’re seeking to establish accountability for a SWAT raid into our client’s home by a police lieutenant who did virtually nothing to ensure that he was at the right address. All of these cases are united by the same principle: Government officials should be held accountable for preventable and premeditated mistakes.

Now the Supreme Court will have a chance to embrace that principle and vindicate Trina and others like her.

Thank you to our supporters for enabling us to stand with Trina, Gabe, and Toi to renew accountability and uphold the fundamental principles of freedom and justice for all Americans.

Scott

Scott G. Bullock

President and Chief Counsel

Institute for Justice

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