Supreme Court Protects Police in Restraining Order Lawsuit
The U.S. Supreme Court held earlier this week that police cannot be sued for the manner in which they enforce restraining orders. In the 7-2 decision, the Court found that the wife did not have a constitutional right to police enforcement of an order against her estranged husband.
The woman, a resident of Colorado, claimed that local police did not do enough to prevent her husband from killing her three young daughters. She claimed that she was entitled to bring the action under the 14th Amendment and also under a Colorado law that provides that officers use every reasonable means to enforce a restraining order.
Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, "The creation of a personal entitlement to something as vague and novel as enforcement of restraining orders cannot 'simply go without saying.' We conclude that Colorado has not created such an entitlement."
Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 04-278, June 30, 2005.
