A 96-year-old federal judge in Brooklyn had a “Hey, kids, get off my lawn” moment this week.

The kids in question: the United States Supreme Court.

The (metaphorical) lawn: the public’s power to hold the police accountable for misconduct and abuse.

In a spirited decision issued Monday, the judge, Jack B. Weinstein, argued that the justices had gone too far in a pair of recent rulings expanding qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that protects law-enforcement officers from being sued for actions they perform on the job. Judge Weinstein complained that the broadened doctrine now protects “all but the plainly incompetent.”

“The Supreme Court’s recent emphasis on shielding public officials and federal and local law enforcement means many individuals who suffer a constitutional deprivation will have no redress,” he wrote.