Short Circuit 434 | The Police Are the Emergency
About this episode
The episode discusses due process issues related to confessions of judgment and a police standoff incident in Madison, Wisconsin.
If someone sues you for money you get to defend yourself in court. Right? Not really if you sign a confession of judgment, a contract where you waive defenses to a later collection action. A county in Iowa had a policy of making prisoners sign confessions of judgment when they were released if they owed money to the jail. That seems like it might have due process problems. Does it? Well, we don’t know yet but the Eighth Circuit recently ruled that the released prisoners have standing to move forward in their case. Michael Soyfer of IJ takes us through this dispute where IJ and a number of other groups filed an amicus brief. Then, McCarley Maddock of IJ reports on a bizarre set of facts in Madison, Wisconsin where a man may—or may not—have fired shots after an argument with his wife. The police then come to his house, with a Bearcat, and begin a standoff where he, it seems, was fast asleep inside. Things go bad for the man after that, resulting in an arrest and later a federal lawsuit. That then fails because of qualified immunity, according to the Seventh Circuit. Roberts v. Thompson Jackson v. Madison Bound By Oath
People in this episode
Host: Institute for Justice
Guests: Michael Soyfer, McCarley Maddock
Topics covered
- due process
- prisoner rights
- qualified immunity
- police conduct
- legal disputes
Keywords
- confession of judgment
- due process
- Eighth Circuit
- qualified immunity
- police standoff
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Institute for Justice
Places: Iowa, Madison
More episodes of Short Circuit
- Short Circuit 437 | Privately Racing the Nondelegation Doctrine
- Short Circuit 436 | Retaliatory Justice
- Short Circuit 435 | 1776 and Judicial Review
- Short Circuit 433 | Bond Hearing Without Lawyer
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