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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

My forthcoming @uclalawreview.bsky.social article reports officers paid <.05% of settlements and judgments against them from 2018-23. This is consistent w/my earlier study, though I also find subtle differences that should inform policies/practices. Comments welcome! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

The strongest arguments against qualified immunity reform are that lawsuit costs would skyrocket and officer retention would plummet. Alex Reinert, Jim Pfander, and I studied qualified immunity reforms in Colorado and New Mexico and can report: the sky is not falling. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The abstract of the article, setting out the general findings.

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

Police officers almost never pay settlements & judgments against them, but are denied indemnification more often than payout data suggests. This great @themarshallproject.org story describes two recent cases & here's my new draft article examining this phenomenon 👇 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Police officers rarely pay anything towards settlements and judgments entered against them. This observation has been taken to mean that local governments virtually always agree to indemnify their officers and pay the entirety of settlements and judgments entered against them. Yet indemnification decisions are more nuanced, complex, and uncertain—and officers are denied indemnification more often—than payout data suggest.
This Article examines the unindemnified: the authority under which officers may be denied indemnification by their employers; the circumstances in which local governments deny or threaten to deny officers indemnification; the ways that indemnification denials influence the litigation of civil rights cases (including why even unindemnified officers rarely pay); the impact of indemnification denials and threatened denials on our system of constitutional remediation; and steps that legislators, government officials, and litigants could take to better align indemnification rules and practices with the compensatory and deterrence goals of §1983.

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

I'm thrilled to announce that I've been named The Honorable Harry Pregerson Professor of Law at @law.ucla.edu. Clerking for and knowing HP was inspiring beyond words & I'm honored to get to carry his name. For some thoughts I shared about HP last November: www.joannaschwartz.net/a-few-though...

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

I highly recommend reading James Stone's "The Prison Discovery Crisis." Terrifically insightful, beautifully written, and the product of a lot of important work. @yalelawjournal.bsky.social www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/134.8.St...

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

I've been thinking a lot about the role litigation plays in the protection of constitutional rights because of, well, obvious reasons. So I wrote this article. It's critically important-now more than ever-to articulate & appreciate what suing the government can do. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

IMPORTANT STUDY👇💥 Courts often rely on the Force Science Institute when adjudicating police use-of-force suits. Turns out, FSI's research "lacks the scientific rigor required to reliably inform court proceedings, evidence-based policing, or police policy and training." Daubert challenge, anyone?

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

There will now be 10,000 new ICE agents & 100,000 new detention beds--and few safeguards protecting people from constitutional violations by the feds. Time for states to pass laws allowing people to sue fed agents. Read about it these "converse-1983" statutes here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

It appears the Marines are short of JAG Officers right now.

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

In addition to the argument, I have an appendix that sets out how dozens of law enforcement agencies across the country use - and more often ignore - information from lawsuits filed against them. (Here's two pages of the appendix - there are another 16...)

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

I've got a new Essay out in ‪@columlrev.bsky.social‬: MONELL'S UNTAPPED POTENTIAL. In it, I set out an overlooked argument for municipal liability-a claim for failure to supervise based on police departments' inattention to lawsuit allegations & information.🧵1/4 columbialawreview.org/wp-content/u...

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Police killings have risen each year since George Floyd's murder & the key finding to explore is that police killings have dropped 15% in Bluer states & risen 23% in Redder States since 2020, with the highest rates of police killings in the most conservative areas. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/24/u....

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

What better way to spend a Saturday?! It’s really terrific…and terrifically frustrating and terrifically funny and terrifically timely.

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

Too true. For more proof, check out bit.ly/Shieldedbook

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Every year, when I teach civil rights litigation, my students are confronted with & confront me questions about what civil rights suits can actually accomplish. This essay is my answer. It's a very early draft & I'd welcome your suggestions, additions & stories. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Thanks for flagging! Happy to see it.

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Judge Carnes argues it would be "grossly unfair" to expect officers to apply the same medical judgment as would doctors and nurses. Yet he expects those same officers to parse holdings and dicta and assess what's abrogated and what remains among circuit decisions spanning several decades.

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Third, Judge Carnes not only expects that officers read court decisions-including decisions from 7 years in the future-but also that they can distinguish between a decision's holding and dicta, and can tell whether a decision has been abrogated (even when that's a subject on which judges disagree).

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

He argues that qualified immunity is intended to put officers on notice of the illegality of their conduct, and they couldn't be put on notice by imagining how judges might have decided those pre-Wade decisions post Wade.

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Judge Carnes's concurrence takes the dissent to task for citing cases that predate Wade, a July 2024 11th cir deliberate indifference decision, chastising him for violating "Judicial Process 101" by imagining how those courts would have decided those cases after Wade.

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Time will tell whether I am getting the smackdown or doing the smacking.

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

Here's the message that I shared with my law students on November 6, inspired by the great Judge Harry Pregerson...https://www.joannaschwartz.net/a-few-thoughts-on-november-6-2024

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 11/11/2024

Over the next 4 years, any steps forward on police accountability/transparency will be at the state & local levels. If you're interested in thinking about what role you can play, sign up for this book club sponsored by Institute for Justice: cophttps://instituteforjustice.quorum.us/campaign/75060/

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 29/05/2024

Anyone interested in qualified immunity must pay close attention to New Mexico, which passed an act effectively ending qi in 2021. New Mexico L. Rev. held a terrific symposium about the statute, and the symposium issue (with my keynote) is out now digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmlr/. Also...

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 27/02/2024

Hey Baltimore! I'm coming to your fair city on Monday, March 4. RSVP if you can join us for this conversation! (The poster says it's just for MEJC members, but I've confirmed there's room for you, too.)

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 16/02/2024

Civil rights hot tip: Chicago, in support of motions to bifurcate Monell claims, has promised to pay judgments on behalf of officers who violate the Constitution, even if they're awarded qualified immunity. If a court's going to bifurcate, this seems like a reasonable demand.

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 14/02/2024

Shielded was published a year ago today! I cherish the conversations I have had and the people I have met because of it.

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 07/02/2024

LA County paid nearly $150 million last year in lawsuits involving the Sheriff's Department. As far as I can tell, they're not doing the basic risk management work that any private company would to figure out how to prevent a similar payout next year. latimes.com/california/s...

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 10/11/2023

Anyone want a reprint? Everything at joannaschwartz.net/articles-commentary is in stock. Message me and I will send you anything you want. I’m going to wrap holiday gifts in the pages of whatever remains.

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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 02/11/2023

So excited for this. See you Monday, New Haven!

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