SCOTUS rules you may sue government agents for damages when they violate rights
While I am heartened by the ruling, I think it's important to note that SCOTUS is merely saying that the language of the law allows for personal liability of (and lawsuits against) government officials.<p>Do not rejoice too soon.  If the law gave <i>immunity</i> to officials in their personal capacity, they might have equally ruled that you <i>cannot</i> sue them personally under the law.  The court is making no principled or difficult stand for any kind of civil rights here, hence you may note the unanimous opinion.<p>More and more things are falling to the courts to decide because Congress is paralyzed for some reason having to do with the new atmosphere of microsecond attention span and single-issue voting.  I think we would be wrong to place so much hope in the courts, and rather try to fix what is broken with our system of creating and updating laws.