Public Accountability

Read our amicus brief here: pubaccountability.org/s/Fonseca-Am...

No. 25-2618 IN THE Plaintiff-Appellee, D. Defendants-Appellants. Athul K. Acharya Sara K. Rosenburg PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY P.O. Box 14672 Portland, Oregon 97293 (503) 383-9492 Counsel for Amici Curiae UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT April Fonseca, aka April Ehrlich, James Barringer, Scott Clauson, Brian Sjothun, Steven Furst, Trevor Arnold, Michael Todd, Geoffrey Kirkpatrick, and Randal Jewell, On appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon Case No. 1:22-cv-1416-CL Hon. Mark D. Clarke BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY AND PUBLIC JUSTICE SUPPORTING PLAINTIFF AND AFFIRMANCE November 10, 2025

TABLE OF CONTENTS Interest of Amici Curiae... Introduction Argument 1. The collateral-order doctrine was a mistake—an atextual, unworkable exception to Congress's final-judgment rule. 2. Qualified immunity was a mistake—an atextual, unworkable exception to Congress's civil-rights remedy. 2.1. Qualified immunity conflicts with the original text, history, and purpose of Section 1983 2.2. Qualified immunity has been roundly criticized... 2.3. The Supreme Court has begun trimming the doctrine's harshest excesses. 3. Combining the collateral-order doctrine with qualified immunity compounded the flaws of both, so the Supreme Court has since sharply limited such appeals. 3.1. Allowing collateral-order review of qualified-immunity denials flooded the courts with appeals like this one... 3.2. In response, the Supreme Court limited such appeals to cases presenting "neat abstract issues of law." 3.3. When an official makes factbound arguments on interlocutory review, the proper course is to dismiss the appeal............ 4. The officials' argument here depends on their view of the facts, so this Court should dismiss their appeal. Conclusion •••-.,,,• • • • • • • • • • • • 2 4 4 8 12 14 .17 17 19 22 ..23 ...............25

April Fonseca tried to report on the eviction of a homeless camp. Medford officers arrested her—and strip-searched her. Clear-cut? We think so. But when the district court denied qualified immunity, the officers sought an immediate appeal. We told the Ninth Circuit they should pound sand.

In short When our client was transferred to a new prison, he told officials there that he needed a bottom bunk because he had a seizure disorder. They put him in a top bunk anyway. Three days later, he fell out of his bunk and injured his head and leg. Were the officials deliberately indifferent to his medical condition? The district court sure thought so-but that didn't stop the officials from filing a meritless interlocutory appeal. We've asked the Sixth Circuit not only to affirm, but for sanctions. Officials need to learn: Don't file an interlocutory appeal unless you can follow the rules of interlocutory jurisdiction.

HUGE congratulations to our staff attorney, @sara-rosenburg.bsky.social, for filing her first brief! There's lots here—appellate jurisdiction, Eighth Amendment rights, qualified immunity, and a very juicy request for sanctions. Check out the brief at our case page, pubaccountability.org/tyree!

Our ED’s got memes y’all

We’re a small shop, but we’re mighty. Help us keep bringing the fight to qualified immunity: pubaccountability.org/donate

At @pubaccountability.org we are always accepting donations and ALWAYS fighting against law enforcement’s abuses of our rights!!!

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"Our victory in Fagon preserves an important boundary: Interlocutory appeals of qualified-immunity denials must be limited to purely legal arguments—or risk being dismissed outright."

At @pubaccountability.org we do really great work that I frankly can’t believe I get paid to do—please help keep us paid!!! Your dollar counts double today!!!!!

We’re challenging qualified immunity—will you join us? — Public Accountability We're taking the fight to the Supreme Court, and we need your help.

This Giving Tuesday, help us hold the government to account. We're fighting hard against qualified immunity. We're opening up new practice areas and expanding our staff. We're winning.

And we can't do any of it without your help. So if you can, consider investing in our work today.

This Giving Tuesday, give the gift of accountability.

(We’re still workshopping the email.)

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The Supreme Court routinely sumrevs *denials* of qualified immunity, but almost never reverses grants. Lower courts got the message: Always grant QI.

Reversing a *grant* of QI—and summarily, at that—is a huge course correction.

Holy shit, the Supreme Court just summarily reversed the Fifth Circuit for *granting* qualified immunity. This is a huge deal.

Appeals court revives $1 million jury award to Salem protester shot in the eye The district judge should not have granted the officer immunity, effectively nullifying the jury’s verdict after trial, ruled a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Some coverage of our win yesterday.

Victory against the cop who shot a student at a protest — Public Accountability Bad cop, no qualified immunity.

NEW: We just won a case against a cop who shot a student protester in the eye. He lost at trial but the court set the verdict aside and gave him qualified immunity. This morning, the Ninth Circuit reversed. It said the district court should not have “nullified the jury’s verdict in this case.”

Oh hey, that's our cue. Check out our recent work!

Clearly Established #22 — Public Accountability April 9, 2024—Presidential immunity, solitary confinement, and shenanigans out of the Fifth & Ninth Circuits

New issue of Clearly Established is out! It's been a while [read: over a year] since our last issue, so the crop of cases this time is extra spicy. Read all about how our federal courts have been shielding the police and other agents of the state from accountability—

Our most critical case yet. — Public Accountability A police officer shot our client in the eye. A jury said she was owed a million dollars. And then the judge stepped in and granted the officer qualified immunity. We’re fighting back.

A cop shot Elea in the eye with a rubber bullet. He damaged her vision forever & ended her athletic career. A jury awarded her $1m in damages.

And then a judge gave him qualified immunity.

This week, we filed our opening brief on appeal. More on that & other recent work in our latest newsletter.

Extremely troubling new Bivens case from the Ninth Circuit. Bivens claims are nearly always "dead on arrival." (As you can see, our ED is taking it in stride.)

https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2023/08/15/20-55004.pdf

We beat MAGA extremists in Newberg! — Public Accountability Hot tip: Don’t sue your constituents.

We notched a big win for free speech in Newberg, OR. Far-right extremists took over the school board, banned BLM and Pride, and sued constituents who organized against them. Turns out: It's not reasonable for public officials to feel harassed when subjected to public scrutiny. Anti-SLAPPed!