Today’s Headlines and Commentary

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear several cases involving qualified immunity today, a rule that shields public officials from lawsuits involving allegations of misconduct in their official capacity, reports Bloomberg Law. This rejection comes amidst nationwide protests of police violence and calls to end qualified immunity.

The Court also rejected a Trump administration challenge to a California law that forbids state and local law enforcement in that state from working with federal officials to take immigrants into custody when they are let out of jail, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Officials announced Sunday that an Atlanta police officer was fired after shooting and killing Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, writes the Wall Street Journal. On Saturday, Atlanta’s police chief resigned in the wake of new outrage sparked by the killing of Brooks.

Two Black men, Robert Fuller and Malcolm Harsch were recently found dead hanging from trees in separate locales in Southern California. Their families are urging authorities to further evaluate the cause of the two men’s deaths after local authorities pronounced that Fuller committed suicide, reports the New York Times.

As protests following the death of George Floyd have swelled nationwide, there have been at least nineteen reports of civilian cars driving into demonstrators, writes the Post. Some observers have drawn parallels between the uptick in such reports and the 2017 vehicle attack by a white supremacist in Charlottesville, Virginia.

On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration rescinded its emergency use authorization for the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus, according to Reuters. President Trump has previously advocated for the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19.

After Chinese authorities discovered a new coronavirus outbreak stemming from a market in Beijing, they aggressively ramped up COVID-19 testing and imposed restrictions on residents of the capital, according to the Washington Post. These new controls come after the Chinese government had lifted many of the previously adopted containment measures.

An American security executive and former Marine, Paul Whelan, was convicted of espionage in a Russian court on Monday, reports the Associated Press. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement raising concerns about the fairness of Whelan’s trial.

Federal law enforcement officials dispute the Trump administration’s claim that its decision to use force against protesters in Lafayette Square was not linked to the President’s public appearance in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, reports the Washington Post.

Security researchers found a flaw in a Trump campaign app that could have allowed hackers to access user information, according to Politico. The researchers, from the company Website Planet, say they discovered the issue before any data was exposed.

Public health experts worry that the Trump administration’s concentration on the speed of the production and development of a vaccine could harm its effectiveness, writes Politico. These concerns arise as new polling data emerges that indicates some public resistance to receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Jacob Zenn discussed the various jihadist groups in the Sahel and in Nigeria and analyzed their possible negotiation positions.

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