This bill, the Ending Qualified Immunity Act, would change a long-standing civil rights statute (section 1979 of the Revised Statutes, now cited as 42 U.S.C. 1983). It would add a new subsection saying that certain defenses are not allowed in lawsuits brought under that statute. Specifically, a defendant in a section 1983 case could not use as a defense that they acted in good faith, believed their conduct was lawful, that the right was not clearly established, or that the state of the law made it unreasonable to know their conduct was unlawful. The bill says this rule applies to lawsuits pending on, or filed after, the date the bill becomes law. The bill includes findings that describe the historical origin of section 1983, Supreme Court cases that created the qualified immunity doctrine, and the sponsors’ view that qualified immunity has limited plaintiffs’ ability to recover.
If this bill became law, people who bring civil lawsuits under 42 U.S.C. 1983 would not be blocked from recovery by the four defenses listed in the new subsection. The change would apply to cases already pending when the law takes effect and to new cases filed afterward. The bill was introduced by Senators Markey, Warren, and Sanders and was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
No publicly available information.
The bill’s sponsors and findings say qualified immunity was not part of the original statute and that later court decisions created a broad defense based on good faith or whether a right was "clearly established." They say that doctrine has limited many plaintiffs from recovering under section 1983 and that Congress should restore the statute’s original scope by removing those defenses.
No publicly available information.