The National Police Association Urges U.S. Supreme Court to Restore Common Sense to Police Use-of-Force Standard

INDIANAPOLIS, June 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Police Association (NPA) has filed an amicus curiae brief urging the United States Supreme Court to review Moore & Kurtz v. Romero, a case that strikes at the heart of whether police officers can protect themselves and the public when confronted by an armed suspect.

The case arises from a Sixth Circuit decision denying qualified immunity to Officers Donovan Moore and Jeff Kurtz after they used deadly force against a suspect who reached for and gained control of a firearm during an arrest. The NPA argues that the ruling conflicts with decades of Supreme Court precedent and places officers across America in an impossible position: hesitate when a suspect obtains a gun and risk death, or act to stop the threat and risk financial ruin through years of litigation.

At issue is whether courts will continue to judge split-second life-and-death decisions from the safety of a courtroom years after the fact, or honor the constitutional standard that evaluates force from the perspective of a reasonable officer facing an immediate threat.

The NPA's brief warns that the Sixth Circuit's decision reflects a growing tendency among some courts to substitute speculation for reality, imagining what a suspect may have intended rather than confronting what officers actually saw and recorded on bodycam: an armed individual gaining control of a weapon during a rapidly unfolding confrontation.

"The Constitution does not require police officers to gamble with their lives when a suspect obtains a gun," said Eddie Hutchison, President of the National Police Association. "Our brief asks the Supreme Court to reaffirm that officers confronting an armed threat are entitled to rely on what actually happened, not on theories invented years later by judges from the comfort of their chambers."

"Every officer answering a domestic disturbance call, making a felony arrest, or confronting an armed suspect deserves clear legal standards, not shifting judicial theories that prompt hesitation and punish lifesaving action," Hutchison added.

The National Police Association is represented by James L. Buchal, of Murphy & Buchal LLP, in Portland, OR. The full brief is available on the Supreme Court docket under case number 25-1295 and can be read here.

The National Police Association (NPA) is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit fighting for law enforcement through education, advocacy, and the courts. For more information, visit NationalPolice.org.

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SOURCE National Police Association