The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that Secret Service agents are shielded from a lawsuit brought by a man who said his free speech rights were violated when he was arrested after confronting then-Vice President Dick Cheney.
The court took a narrow path in finding for agents Virgil D. “Gus” Reichle Jr. and Dan Doyle. Although the government wanted broad protection for Secret Service agents who are protecting the nation’s leaders, the court ruled only that the two men could not be sued because the state of the law was unclear when Steven Howards was arrested in 2006 at a Colorado shopping center.