The Supreme Court overturned a ruling Monday against Black Lives Matter leader DeRay Mckesson, who led a protest in Louisiana that caused brain damage to a police officer.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled Mr. Mckesson could be held liable for negligent conduct that occurred at his protest, but the high court disagreed in a 7-1 opinion.
The case stemmed from Mr. Mckesson organizing a demonstration in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2016 against a local police shooting of Alton Sterling.
He allegedly instructed protesters to gather in front of the highway where the police headquarters was located.
When police moved to arrest protesters gathered along the highway, one demonstrator threw concrete at an officer, causing him to lose teeth and suffer brain trauma.
That unnamed officer sued Mr. Mckesson, moving to hold him liable for the negligent conduct in organizing the protest which resulted in the assault — even though the actual individual who threw the concrete remains unidentified.
The district court had ruled that the First Amendment protected Mr. Mckesson against the negligence claim, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had reversed.
On Monday, though, in an unsigned opinion from the Supreme Court, the justices remanded the case back to the lower courts for further proceedings, siding with Mr. Mckesson. The justices reasoned the federal appeals court should have considered precedent from Louisiana law and the state’s Supreme Court.
“We conclude that the Fifth Circuit should not have ventured into so uncertain an area of tort law — one laden with value judgments and fraught with implications for First Amendment rights — without first seeking guidance on potentially controlling Louisiana law from the Louisiana Supreme Court,” the Supreme Court’s unsigned opinion read.
Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the court’s ruling. Justice Amy Coney Barrett did not weigh in on the matter.
