The recent shooting by ICE agents in Minneapolis has stirred up strong feelings and brought up questions about police shootings. When a law enforcement officer shoots someone, public reaction is often immediate and emotional. Videos circulate, opinions harden, and a familiar question follows: How can prosecutors say this was justified? To many people, the answer feels disconnected from common sense or morality. But the way courts evaluate police shootings is guided by constitutional law, not by hindsight or emotion. Two Supreme Court cases — Graham v. Connor (1989) and Barnes v. Felix (2025) — help explain why courts so often…