Castle Rock v. Gonzales: Making the Court's Protection Real

[Jay Kominek]

From the ACLU:
Castle Rock v. Gonzales: Making the Court's Protection Real

On March 21, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Castle Rock, Colorado v. Gonzales, a case that will determine the accountability of local law enforcement for failing to enforce court orders that protect victims of abuse by a spouse or acquaintance.

The case stems from a lawsuit filed by Jessica Gonzales, who charged that police repeatedly failed to enforce a restraining order against her violent husband, who kidnapped and murdered their three young daughters in 1999.

Tragic what happened to the lady, but this seems like this will be a candidate for a hypothetical second edition of Dial 911 and Die. (Once it finishes wending its way through the courts, anyways.)

Unfortunately, the "Read more" link doesn't work for me. Poking around on the SCOTUS' site makes it seem like the actual case they're hearing is about whether or not Gonzales is even allowed to sue the town of Castle Rock over this. Anyone know anything more?

(Connected to guns through the whole cops-can't-guarantee-our-protection-so-we-ought-to-be-prepared-to-protect-ourselves idea.)

 

[DRZinn]

bump

 

[Jay Kominek]

JPFO had an alert on this last week, linking to this CBS article.

Chief Lane sent 60 Minutes a letter after our interview. And on one key point, he agrees with Gonzales: “The tragedy of the Gonzales shootings points out the much larger problem in this country … with restraining orders. They do not protect society from the Simon Gonzales of the world.â€

Yeah, no kidding.

It appears the Federal district court turned Gonzales down, and the Apellate court reversed it. It appears the case was argued in front of the Supremes on the 21st. Transcripts don't appear to be available yet.

 

[Jay Kominek]

Transcript of the argument is here. Currently the first on the page.