Accountability for Cross-Border Shootings

This Term, the U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing several important cases that implicate the role of the Constitution and federal courts as checks on gross misconduct by federal officials.  The election of Donald Trump has magnified the importance of these cases, placing into sharp relief the battle over government accountability.  I've posted thoughts here on one of those cases, Hernandez v. Mesa, which presents the question of whether the family of a Mexican teenager is entitled to a day in court against a U.S. Border Patrol agent who shot and killed the teenager.  Since the suit is at the motion to dismiss stage, all of the allegations--including that the cross-border shooting was wholly without justification--are assumed to be true.  Thus, the question is whether U.S. courts will provide foreign nationals located just outside America's borders the possibility of pursuing a remedy for the egregious constitutional violation of arbitrary killing. As I explain, the integrity of a meaningful system of government accountability depends upon it.