A police officer's stated good faith belief in the necessity or wisdom of his action is not dispositive of that element of the defense, but must be supported by objective evidence.

—finding that the police had violated the constitutional rights of a demonstrator by removing her sign, Which was critical of the Nixon Administration, in order to avoid a disturbance

—explaining that a demonstrator waited for President Nixon's motorcade to drive by so she could hold up a poster criticizing his administration's foreign policy

We do note, however, that we have previously held that to state a claim under section 1985 (3) the plaintiff must be a member of a class that requires special federal assistance in protecting its civil rights.

It is beyond dispute that "compensatory damages under § 1983 may include noneconomic injuries such as embarrassment, humiliation, or loss of reputation."

—the plaintiff, who was waiting to see a presidential motorcade and was carrying a sign critical of the president, sued the police who forci-bly took the sign from her under both §§ 1985 (3) and 1983.

—legislative history. In cases such as Cameron, involving state officials as conspirators, the statute is little different from section 1983.15 Section 1985 (c) might appear to operate in the same fashion when the conspirators include a federal officer. 1 6 An argument can be made that the section would make a significant contribution to the array of civil rights remedies …

Indeed, a number of non-black American presidents have encountered protests from dissatisfied constituents

However, courts have also granted protection to classes whose members are discriminated against because of their political beliefs or their associations.

As the Sixth Circuit has noted, "[t] he law does not expect police officers to be sophisticated constitutional or criminal lawyers, but because they are charged with the responsibility of enforcing the law, it is not unreasonable to expect them to have some knowledge of it."

[PDF] Petition for a Writ of Certiorari

[PDF] The Federal Civil Rights Act