WASHINGTON—This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Desiree Martinez’s appeal in her civil rights suit against a Clovis, California, police officer who protected and enabled her abuser. Her lawsuit has spent nearly a decade in court, with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently granting qualified immunity to Officer Channon High. The Institute for Justice (IJ) had asked the Justices to reject qualified immunity when officers break the rules and knowingly place someone in danger.

“This is obviously hugely disappointing. Qualified immunity should not be a one-size-fits-all doctrine that protects on-the-beat cops and desk-bound bureaucrats alike. My heart breaks for Desiree. But one day, when we defeat qualified immunity, it will be because she and other heroes like her had the courage to stand up,” said IJ Senior Attorney Anya Bidwell.

Desiree was especially courageous when she reported the abuse she had been suffering at the hands of her boyfriend, Kyle Pennington. Why? Because Pennington was a police officer from a family of cops. But rather than protect her, Officer High told Pennington about Desiree’s report while Desiree was trapped in a room with him in the middle of the night. Predictably, Pennington further abused Desiree in light of this disclosure.

Desiree filed her lawsuit in 2015. Taking nearly a decade weaving through courts is not unheard of in cases involving qualified immunity. New research published by IJ this year, Unaccountable, found that the median duration of a qualified immunity lawsuit was three years and two months, 23% longer than the typical federal civil suit up on appeal.

“When the Supreme Court created qualified immunity, it said the doctrine was needed to ensure that government officials have ‘fair notice’ their actions are wrong,” said IJ Senior Attorney Patrick Jaicomo. “But, as this case illustrates, the doctrine regularly protects officials who know beyond a shadow of any doubt that what they’re doing is wrong.”

IJ’s Project on Immunity and Accountability is dedicated to the simple idea that if the people must follow the law, our government must follow the Constitution. Last term, IJ won a case at the Supreme Court, Gonzalez v. Trevino, on behalf of a Texas woman who faced retaliation for political opposition to her city’s mayor. That decision led the Supreme Court to reverse two other immunity cases early in this term, IJ case Murphy v. Schmitt and Villarreal v. Alaniz.