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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

The Supreme Court ruled on two cases defending the right to sue large corporations and the police. Are they just buttering us up before dropping some major bad decisions?

Meanwhile, police attacked protesters in Los Angeles as the authorities attempted to clear out a large homeless encampment. Despite the coronavirus, some homeless say they feel safer in a tent of their own than in a hotel room where they might be surveiled.

And lastly, a United Nations report says the world’s forests are best protected by indigenous peoples. So they themselves need to be protected against slash-and-burn plunderers.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

In two decisions yesterday, the Supreme Court made it easier for people to sue large companies and to hold police accountable for excessive use of force, NBC News reports. In a unanimous ruling, the court said Ford Motor Company could be sued for allegedly defective vehicles involved in accidents in Montana and Michigan. One case was brought by family members of a Montana woman who died in the crash of a 1996 Explorer that her family members said had a design flaw. The second lawsuit was filed by a man claiming he was injured in the crash of a defective Crown Victoria in Minnesota. Ford said it could be sued only in states where the vehicles were actually designed, manufactured or sold. But the court ruled that because Ford markets, sells, and services its products nationwide, state courts can consider product liability lawsuits.

In the second case, NBC reports, the court ruled five to three that police can be sued for using excessive force, even when it fails to stop someone from fleeing. The case involved a New Mexico woman, Roxanne Torres, who drove away from a parking lot when police approached to question her. Thinking they might be carjackers, not police officers, she sped away. They fired thirteen shots, hitting her twice in the back. She sued, claiming they used excessive force, making the shooting unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable seizures. The police said it wasn't a seizure, since she wasn't stopped by their gunfire. But yesterday’s opinion said it was a seizure nonetheless.

Jeffrey Bellin, a professor at William and Mary Law School, said the decision will make it easier to sue for excessive force at a time when the country is increasingly concerned with police violence. Know your rights, folks.

Police attack protesters at LA homeless camp

It’s hard out there on the streets. Los Angeles officials said they intend to close a homeless encampment at Echo Park yesterday after a night of protests as workers erected fencing and authorities ordered residents of the camp to clear out, the LA Times reports. More than two hundred protesters gathered at the park Wednesday night and Thursday morning in a tense standoff with police over the future of the encampment, which has become a flash point in the city’s homelessness crisis. The camp has drawn the ire of neighbors, and the city has agreed to move those living in the park to hotels. But some residents say they prefer to stay in the park and argue they have the right to do so.

Los Angeles police Chief Michel Moore said Wednesday night that homeless residents inside the park would be allowed to remain overnight, but that no one else could enter, and the encampment’s residents must leave within twenty four hours, according to the Times. There was a huge police presence Wednesday night. As skirmishes erupted, police were seen shoving some protesters. Park rangers, flanked by LAPD officers, began taping notices of closure onto trees and light poles on the east side of the park, where homeless people have been camping throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

Westside City Councilman Mike Bonin issued a statement yesterday criticizing the use of police to clear the park, the Times reports. Yesterday morning a small number of people woke up inside the fenced park, worrying about what was to come. Valerie Zeller likened it to a hostage situation. The homeless woman said she was reluctant to go to a hotel, saying she had heard that residents would be searched and subjected to curfews. Protests continued yesterday. Exactly what problems have the police solved here?

UN report: Indigenous people protect forests

File this one under common sense. The embattled indigenous peoples of Latin America are by far the best guardians of the regions’ forests, according to a UN report covered by the Guardian. Deforestation rates are up to fifty percent lower in their territories than elsewhere. Protecting the vast forests is vital to tackling the climate crisis and plummeting populations of wildlife, and the report found that recognising the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples to their land is one of the most cost-effective actions. The report also calls for the peoples to be paid for the environmental benefits their stewardship provides, and for funding for the revitalisation of their ancestral knowledge of living in harmony with nature.

However, the Guardian reports, the demand for beef, soy, timber, oil and minerals means the threats to indigenous peoples and their forest homes are rising. Hundreds of community leaders have been killed because of disputes over land in recent years. And the Covid-19 pandemic has added to the dangers forest peoples face. Demands by indigenous peoples for their rights have become increasingly visible in recent years, the report said, but this has come with increasing persecution, racism, and assassinations. Supporting these peoples to protect the forests is particularly crucial now with scientists warning that the Amazon is nearing a tipping point where it switches from rainforest to savannah, risking the release of billions of tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere.

The report was produced by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, the Guardian reports. It was based on a review of more than three hundred studies. The rigor is admirable, but the conclusions are obvious. People who depend on the land aren’t likely to destroy it for profit!

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

President Joe Biden answered reporters’ questions for a little over an hour yesterday at his first formal news conference, the Washington Post reports. He said he plans to seek reelection in 2024 with Vice President Harris as his running mate; indicated that he was open to revamping the filibuster to get his policy priorities, including voting rights, passed; and said that he does not picture US forces in Afghanistan next year. I guess we won the war!

A salvage company working on the operation warned yesterday that releasing the container vessel blocking traffic in the Suez Canal in Egypt could take days or even weeks, according to the New York Times. Dozens of ships laden with oil and goods destined for ports around the world are stranded in the canal. The stuck ship, the Ever Given, has been wedged in the canal since running aground on Tuesday. Have they tried greasing it up with olive oil?

New York State officials finalized a deal yesterday to legalize recreational marijuana in the state, the Times reports. The deal would allow delivery of the drug and permit club-like lounges or consumption sites where marijuana, but not alcohol, could be consumed. It would also allow a person to cultivate up to six plants at home for personal use. Legalize it already!

California State Assemblyman Phil Ting, a Democrat, yesterday unveiled the Freedom to Walk Act, which would decriminalize jaywalking across the state, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. A September report from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area found that Black and Latino Californians received a higher number of citations for minor offenses like jaywalking compared to whites. Legalize walking, too!

MAR 26, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn