Last Tuesday, Ryan Dreveskracht presented to a Federal Jurisdiction class at the University of South Dakota Knudson School Of Law on the history and implications of “qualified immunity,” a legal doctrine that acts to shield law enforcement officers from suit—even when their actions violate peoples’ constitutional rights.
Ryan, who describes taking on tricky cases that deal with qualified immunity as his legal “passion project,” shared his own experiences litigating such cases in federal court with the engaged law students.
Over the years, Ryan has successfully litigated several high-profile cases in which clients have had their constitutional rights violated and even lost their life at the hands of law enforcement. In all of these cases, the protections afforded to law enforcement under the qualified immunity doctrine have been a major obstacle to seeking justice. Despite the challenges, Ryan has had great success in this area of litigation, making him a highly regarded authority on the subject.
In addition to speaking about his own cases, Ryan shared his expertise on the many issues that arise when law enforcement is allowed to act with impunity. He also went into why Indigenous Americans are disproportionately affected by this doctrine, as they are the most likely group to suffer violence at the hands of police.
To learn more about qualified immunity, its history and implications, read Ryan’s article in Trial News “The Uncertain Past, Present, and Future of Qualified Immunity”
Ryan is a partner at Galanda Broadman, whose practice focuses on defending individuals’ constitutional rights and bringing police misconduct and wrongful death cases on local and national levels. On December 14, 2021, Governor Inslee appointed Ryan to serve a six-year term as Board Member on the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. Ryan is also a member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington’s Legal Committee, which serves as legal counsel to ACLU-WA and provides advice to the staff in the strategic development and execution of litigation to advance the ACLU’s civil liberties and civil rights agenda. In addition, Ryan is a member of the Task Force on Race and Washington’s Criminal Justice System, which provides research and analysis to the Washington State Supreme Court regarding disproportionalities in the criminal justice system.
