The legal questions were tangled, but some justices seemed incredulous at a government lawyer’s defense of a botched operation involving a battering ram and a flash-bang grenade.

FBI agents handcuffed Hilliard Toi Cliatt and pointed a gun at him and Curtrina Martin while her young son cowered in a bedroom. It was the wrong house.

It's not easy to bring such cases. That's because the federal government is generally immune from being sued, except in certain circumstances set out by Congress.