Stephon Clark. Danny Thomas. Arthur McAfee Jr. Ronell Foster. Police are using excessive force to murder innocent people, and the Supreme Court supports their actions. On Tuesday the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tucson police officer, Andrew Kisela, in the most regressive decision of the last 20 years.

In 2010 Officer Kisela shot Amy Hughes, who was wielding a knife and approached her roommate, Sharon Chadwick. The three officers on scene did not know Hughes had a history of mental illness. “All three of the officers later said that at the time of the shooting they subjectively believed Hughes to be a threat to Chadwick,” said the Kisela v. Hughes Supreme Court per curiam decision.

Police officers have created a shoot first mentality which is backed by the Tennessee v. Garner ruling of 1985 that states “[w]here the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm, either to the officer or to others, it is not constitutionally unreasonable to prevent escape by using deadly force.”

The Supreme Court is the last line of defense, for the people, in combating harmful legislation passed by the government. When the justices fail to protect the constitutional rights of the citizens and residents of our nation, they are not fulfilling their duty as judges.

This backward decision justified the recent ruling supported by all seven male justices and continues the toxic culture that haunts our nation’s police force. Hughes survived the gunshot wounds and pursued legal justice by suing Kisela for the use of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Tuesday’s ruling further complicates the separation between acceptable and excessive force for police officers, which will negatively affect the already hostile relationship between civilians and authorities. Police killed 987 people in 2017, according to the Washington Post, and mental illness played a role in a quarter of these incidents.

Officers told Hughes multiple times to drop the knife and Chadwick said, “take it easy” to both her roommate and the officers.

“Less than a minute had transpired from the moment the officers saw Chadwick to the moment Kisela fired shots.” said the Kisela v. Hughes per curiam.

This solidifies the future of having no justice for victims of police brutality and ensures that police will continue to kill civilians unlawfully and get away with it, getting suspended with paid leave, similar to the officers responsible for the murder of Stephon Clark.

The Supreme Court ruling in favor of Kisela is extremely dangerous for minorities, particularly the black community.

According to data gathered by The Post, “Black males continued to represent a disproportionately large share of unarmed people killed, although their share has dropped slightly: from 32 percent of all unarmed killings during the first six months of last year to 26 percent for the same period this year.”

This unjust reality that the families of police brutality victims live is a result of officers not being held accountable for their actions and not receiving appropriate punishment for their use of excessive force. This ruling ensures a future of injustice for underrepresented populations.

Moving forward the Supreme Court needs to make better decisions regarding pivotal rulings; this is especially important when the subject matter is as prevalent as police brutality.

Police need to do a much better job maintaining peace on the streets without firing their guns. If we do not entirely overhaul our country’s culture of policing, we will continue to see rising rates of murders at the hands of police.