Federal Appeals Court Reinstates Entertainers Eric André and Clayton English’s Lawsuit Against Clayton County Police

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that André and English plausibly alleged violations of their Fourth Amendment rights and that their lawsuit against Clayton County can proceed in the District Court.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2025

Media Contact: Joshua Manson, Policing Project at NYU School of Law, joshua.manson@nyu.edu, (914) 357-0000

Atlanta, GA – In a 44-page, unanimous opinion, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated André v. Clayton County, a major civil rights lawsuit filed by entertainers Eric André and Clayton English, after a district court’s dismissal in 2023.

The case – which was filed in October 2022 and is being litigated by the Policing Project at NYU Law, the global law firm Jones Day, Krevolin & Horst LLC, and Canfield Law LLC – alleges that both men were unlawfully profiled and stopped in nearly identical incidents several months apart as part of a program operated by Clayton County police’s “Airport Interdiction Unit.”

As part of that program, officers singled out Mr. André and Mr. English — who were not suspected of any criminal conduct — on the jet bridge as they were attempting to board their flights, blocked them from continuing down the jet bridge, interrogated them about their travels, and peppered them with questions about whether they were carrying illegal drugs.

Mr. André and Mr. English’s counsel obtained data revealing that CCPD’s specialized “Airport Interdiction Unit” stopped 402 individuals on jet bridges during the eight-month period in which Mr. André and Mr. English were stopped. Although officers claim that they stop passengers at random, 56 percent of passengers stopped whose race was recorded are Black, even though just 8 percent of the airport’s domestic passengers are Black. The odds of that racial breakdown occurring randomly is less than one in one hundred trillion.

In its ruling, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals found that André and English’s allegations plausibly allege violations of the Fourth Amendment. In reinstating those claims against Clayton County, the Court specifically recognized the systemic nature of the program’s constitutional violations, explaining that “plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that the drug interdiction program itself calls for repeated violations of the Fourth Amendment.”

"In the United States, you may not be seized or have your belongings searched unless you truly voluntarily consent or the government has at least reasonable suspicion to justify the seizure. Never has that basic constitutional principle been more important," said Policing Project Faculty Director Barry Friedman, who delivered oral argument earlier this year in support of the appeal. “We are glad that the federal court of appeals has reaffirmed that principle and recognized the validity of our clients' Fourth Amendment claims. We look forward to returning to the trial court to learn even more about the Clayton County Police Department's unconstitutional jet bridge stop program."

The opinion, authored by Judge Elizabeth L. Branch, who was appointed by President Trump, went on to explain that “plaintiffs plausibly alleged that Clayton County’s drug interdiction program directs the county’s officers to violate passengers’ Fourth Amendment rights by conducting unreasonable seizures of the passengers” and that Plaintiffs’ allegations “plausibly demonstrate[] that searches conducted pursuant to the drug interdiction program violate passengers’ Fourth Amendment rights.”

The Court upheld the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ Equal Protection Clause claim, finding that despite the program’s allegedly “stark” discriminatory impact, the Complaint did not plausibly allege “that any individual defendant acted with a discriminatory purpose.”

The ruling reinstates the case after a district court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss in September 2023. In January 2024, Andre and English appealed that dismissal to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and a wide range of groups and individuals filed amicus briefs in support of the appeal, including a group of actors and entertainers including Tyler Perry, Jamie Foxx, Taraji P. Henson, Sterling K. Brown, and Jean Elie; current and former law enforcement officials, the Institute for Justice, the Cato Institute, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; among others.

Legal documents from the case, including appellate briefs and amicus briefs, are available on our case page.

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The Policing Project at NYU School of Law promotes public safety through transparency, equity, and democratic engagement. Learn about the Policing Project at www.policingproject.org.