Follow-Up on Federal Tort Claims Act Sovereign Immunity

Jean-Claude Andre is counsel for a federal prisoner in Ali v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, Case No.  06-9130, on certiorari to the 11th Circuit, raising the question of whether the immunity attaching under the Federal Tort Claims Act applies only to law enforcement officers acting in a tax, excise or customs capacity.  The circuits are split 6-to-4 on the issue.  We thank Mr. Andre for informing us that he will be attempting to vindicate before the Supreme Court the 6th Circuit's position in Kurinsky v. United States, 33 F.3d 594 (6th Cir. 1994), a decision which is directly (and, he adds, correctly) contrary to the 11th Circuit's decision in Ali.