Russia's Endgame Requiem

As Russia bleeds men and obsesses over births, the war begins to look less like madness than demographic strategy.

Barnes v. Felix

Whether the Fourth Amendment's excessive-force reasonableness inquiry requires analysis of the totality of circumstances, or only the 'moment of threat' immediately preceding the officer's use of force.

During a traffic stop in Houston, Officer Felix jumped onto the running board of Barnes's car and fatally shot him. The Fifth Circuit's 'moment of threat' doctrine considers only the instant force was applied — excluding officer-created danger. Every other circuit uses Graham's totality-of-circumstances framework.

A mature circuit split governs excessive-force claims across thousands of police encounters annually. The doctrine determines whether an officer who escalates a situation is immunized from § 1983 liability because only the final moment counts.