Justice Neil Gorsuch wondered aloud how the FBI could have made such an easily-avoidable mistake.
The Supreme Court appears poised to rule in favor of a family who filed a lawsuit against the federal government after FBI agents mistakenly raided their home in the middle of the night.
According to The Associated Press, the justices signaled that they were open to the prospect of giving Trina Martin, her then-boyfriend, and 7-year-old daughter the chance to revive their lawsuit.
However, the court indicated that it was unwilling to issue a more general ruling on liability in law enforcement-related claims.
As LegalReader.com has reported before, the lawsuit was filed after FBI agents broke down Trina Martin’s door in a pre-dawn raid in 2017. After entering the home, they pointed firearms at Martin, her boyfriend, and daughter, but realized after several minutes that they had entered the wrong home.
Martin’s boyfriend, Toi Cliatt, said his first instinct upon hearing a noise was to retrieve a firearm, but he hesitated.
“And I’m thinking about, you know, what’s going to happen if it’s law enforcement? We’re dead, you know?” Cliatt said. “And they’re going to make us as the aggressor.”
The special agent in charge of the team purportedly returned later in the day to apologize and give the family his business card, telling them that a personal GPS had led him to the wrong location.
The Depart of Justice argues that judges shouldn’t have the authority to second-guess decisions made by agents in the “absence of a specific policy.” The 11th US District Court of Appeals sided with the government, dismissing Martin’s lawsuit in 2022.
This week’s arguments in the Supreme Court will determine whether the case can be reinstated.
So far, several justices have repeatedly criticized the FBI’s actions. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, for instance, compared the team’s actions to “driving negligently,” while Justice Neil Gorsuch wondered aloud how they could have made such an easily-avoidable mistake.
“Checking the street sign? Is that asking too much?” Gorsuch said.
Patrick Jaicomo, an attorney for the Institute for Justice, told NBC News that these types of incidents appear to be on the rise.
“We’ve seen, anecdotally […] a shocking number of wrong-house raids where the police just go to the wrong address,” said Jaicomo, who is representing the plaintiffs.
“We know that government raids themselves are extremely common these days, and they’re used for things that historically were done by police knocking on the front door, waiting, and speaking with folks,” he said.
Sources
Supreme Court considers lawsuit arising from ‘wrong house’ FBI raid
Supreme Court seems likely to rule narrowly for family whose house was wrongly raided by FBI
Supreme Court signals it will revive lawsuit over FBI raid on the wrong house
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