In a system of checks and balances, the policy of officer anonymity violates the Constitution by evading accountability and judicial review. “The public nature of masked violence reinforces that it is both permissible and shielded from ordinary constraints of liberal democracy, including press scrutiny, civil suits, public identification, and reputation consequences.” Fields, The Anonymous Officer at 29. This, the Constitution does not tolerate.9 “Where there is no publicity, there is no justice. Publicity is the very soul of justice.” Jeremy Bentham, The Works of Jeremy Bentham 355 (1843). Justice Scalia emphasized, transparent civic involvement is an act of “civic courage, without which democracy is doomed.” John Doe No. 1 v. Reed, 561 U.S. 186, 228 (2010) (Scalia, J., concurring).
“The public nature of masked violence reinforces that it is both permissible and shielded from ordinary constraints of liberal democracy, including press scrutiny, civil suits, public identification, and reputation consequences.”
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