State of Idaho v. Lon T. Horiuchi

MICHAEL DALY HAWKINS, Circuit Judge, with whom Chief Judge SCHROEDER, RYMER, SILVERMAN, and GRABER,* Circuit Judges,

join, dissenting:

This case involves the application of well-settled law to the 1992 Ruby Ridge incident in Idaho. Both the district court and the panel majority correctly recognized that under the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, FBI Special Agent Lon T. Horiuchi cannot be prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter by the state of Idaho for his role in this unfortunate affair.

In an effort to avoid the obvious import of over a century’s jurisprudence on state…