Thompson v. Clark, No. 14-cv-7349, 2018 WL 2997415 (E.D.N.Y. June 11, 2018), considers whether qualified immunity applies to a group of police officers who allegedly beat a man that refused them warrantless access to his home. Judge Jack B. Weinstein held that neither precedent nor policy justifies the expansive view of qualified immunity necessary to prevent the plaintiff from proceeding with his claims.  

Judge Weinstein's opinion provides a thorough review of the history of qualifed immunity and the policy justifications for its expansion. The opinion notes that "[c]iting qualified immunity as a remedy for social costs and the burdens of litigation may, some academics believe, be misguided." Id. at *10. It then quotes Joanna C. Schwartz, How Qualified Immunity Fails, 127 Yale L.J. 2 (2017) extensively for the proposition that the majority of qualified immunity motions "required the parties and judges to dedicate time and resources to briefing, arguing, and deciding the motions without shielding defendants from discovery and trial." Id. at 60.