Alabama Sheriffs Must Face Claims They Intimidated Blogger

The sheriff of Morgan County, Alabama, and two of her deputies don’t have immunity from state-law tort claims that they engaged in a scheme to intimidate a blogger who investigates corruption in their office, a federal appeals court said.

A district court properly ruled that that neither the Alabama nor U.S. constitutions shield state officers from liability if they are accused of actions taken outside the scope of their authority, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed in two separate but related nonprecedential opinions June 14.

Glenda Lockhart operates a blog devoted to investigating fraud by the ...