The Supreme Court of the United States on Monday ruled that a Vermont state police sergeant is entitled to qualified immunity in a lawsuit brought by a protester injured during a sit-in at the state capitol.
In a brief, unsigned per curiam opinion, the court reversed a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Zorn v. Linton, finding that existing precedent did not clearly establish that the officer’s conduct violated the Constitution.
The case centers on Sgt. Jacob Zorn, who used a wristlock to remove protester Shela Linton during a 2015 demonstration at the Vermont Statehouse on then-Gov. Peter Shumlin’s inauguration day.
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According to the court, Linton remained seated and linked arms with other demonstrators after the building had closed. Zorn warned her he would use force, then took her arm, placed it behind her back, applied pressure to her wrist, and lifted her to her feet.
Linton later sued, alleging physical and psychological injuries.
The justices emphasized that qualified immunity protects officers from civil liability unless prior case law makes it “beyond debate” that their actions were unconstitutional.
“Because the Second Circuit failed to identify a case where an officer taking similar actions in similar circumstances was held to have violated the Constitution, Zorn was entitled to qualified immunity,” the court wrote.
The ruling specifically rejected the lower court’s reliance on Amnesty America v. West Hartford, saying that decision did not clearly establish that “using a routine wristlock to move a resistant protester after warning her, without more, violates the Constitution.”
On that basis, the court reversed the Second Circuit and ruled in Zorn’s favor.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Sotomayor argued the court improperly intervened through what she called the “extraordinary remedy of a summary reversal,” and said a jury could reasonably find that excessive force was used against a nonviolent protester engaged in passive resistance.
More over at Fox News:
BREAKING: Supreme Court reverses lower court, ruling that Vermont police sergeant who forcibly arrested sit-in protester is entitled to qualified immunity https://t.co/lQ76owPWcf
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) March 23, 2026
