Trump-Appointed Judge Urges Supreme Court Review In DeRay Mckesson Protest Case
On Thursday, July 30, 2026, Trump-appointed Judge Don Willett issued a dissent urging the Supreme Court to take DeRay Mckesson's case and "restore the constitutional line between advocacy and violence." MS NOW
Willett wrote after the Fifth Circuit declined to rehear the dispute en banc and warned the court's decision could chill lawful protest and broadly expand civil liability for organizers.[1]
In 2016, an unidentified person threw a concrete block during a Black Lives Matter protest in Baton Rouge and injured Officer John Ford. Ford sued Mckesson for negligence, but District Judge Brian Jackson dismissed the case for failing to plausibly link Mckesson's protest leadership to the unknown assailant's attack.
A three-judge Fifth Circuit panel later revived Ford's suit after eight years of pretrial litigation, with Judges Edith Jones and Andrew Oldham in the majority and Judge Carolyn Dineen King dissenting. Willett's dissent from the court's refusal to rehear the case asks the Supreme Court to intervene to prevent a rule that could expose protest leaders to lawsuits for violent acts committed by unidentified third parties.[1]
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📌 Key Facts
- On Thursday, July 30, 2026, Judge Don Willett issued a dissent from the Fifth Circuit's refusal to rehear DeRay Mckesson’s case en banc.
- Willett urged the Supreme Court to take the case and "restore the constitutional line between advocacy and violence," warning of broad impacts on future protests.
- A prior Fifth Circuit panel, with Judges Edith Jones and Andrew Oldham in the majority and Judge Carolyn Dineen King dissenting, revived Officer John Ford's negligence suit after eight years of pretrial litigation.
- District Judge Brian Jackson had dismissed the lawsuit, holding that Ford’s complaint did not plausibly link Mckesson’s protest leadership to an unknown assailant’s concrete-throwing attack.
- The underlying incident stems from a 2016 Black Lives Matter protest in Baton Rouge after the police killing of Alton Sterling, during which an unidentified person injured Officer Ford.
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