WASHINGTON—Today, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear a case brought by an innocent Texas family, seeking to hold a SWAT commander accountable after he ordered his team to raid the wrong home. Karen Jimerson and her partner James Parks, represented by the Institute for Justice (IJ), petitioned the court to overturn an appeals court ruling which gave the commander qualified immunity for his actions. The Supreme Court’s decision leaves in place the appeals court’s ruling.  

“It’s incredibly disappointing that the Supreme Court decided not to take our case,” said Karen. “This raid never should have happened in the first place, and it feels like we’ve been denied justice ever since.” 

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson would have granted the petition. But four votes are necessary to bring a case before the Supreme Court. 

In March 2019, a Waxahachie Police Department SWAT team planned to execute a search warrant for a suspected drug house at 573 8th Street in Lancaster, Texas. When the officers first arrived on the scene, however, they mistakenly gathered on the front porch of 583 8th Street instead. Lieutenant Mike Lewis, who led the SWAT team, realized their mistake. But rather than order the officers to raid the target house, he inexplicably commanded them to travel in the wrong direction and raid Karen and James’s home at 593 8th Street. 

Still, without even double-checking the address, Lewis ordered his SWAT team to throw a flashbang grenade, shatter all Karen and James’s front windows, break down their door, and hold the innocent family at gun point. After several minutes, one of the officers realized the mistake, and the team left to serve the warrant at the proper house. 

“It’s very disappointing that the Supreme Court declined to correct this obvious error by the appeals court,” said IJ Senior Attorney Patrick Jaicomo. “The commander himself admitted that he violated an innocent family’s constitutional rights by unreasonably raiding their home. But qualified immunity means that those rights have no remedy in an American court.” 

When Karen and James sued, Lewis argued he was entitled to qualified immunity, a judge-made legal doctrine that shields government officials from civil liability when they violate people’s constitutional rights. A panel for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Lewis, 2-1, saying he “made significant efforts to identify the correct address.” After the full appeals court declined to rehear the case, Karen and James teamed up with IJ to ask the Supreme Court to consider it. 

“We’re obviously disappointed for Karen and James that they will not receive the justice they deserve after this horrible ordeal,” said IJ President and Chief Counsel Scott Bullock. “However, we remain committed to fighting back against the various immunity doctrines that allow this injustice to continue.” 

While the court declined to hear Karen and James’s case, the court did agree to hear IJ’s other wrong-house raid case, Martin v. United States.