Qualified Immunity Act of 2025

Summary

Qualified Immunity Act of 2025 This bill provides statutory authority for qualified immunity for law enforcement officers in civil cases involving constitutional violations. Current law provides a statutory civil cause of action against state and local government actors (e.g., law enforcement officers) for violations of constitutional rights, also known as Section 1983 lawsuits. The Supreme Court has also found an implied cause of action against federal law enforcement officers in certain situations (e.g., Fourth Amendment violations), also known as Bivens lawsuits. However, under the judicial doctrine of qualified immunity, government officials performing discretionary duties are generally shielded from civil liability, unless their actions violate clearly established rights of which a reasonable person would have known. The bill provides statutory authority for these principles with respect to law enforcement officers. Specifically, under the bill, law enforcement officers are entitled to qualified immunity if (1) at the time of the alleged violation, the constitutional right at issue was not clearly established or the state of the law was not sufficiently clear that any reasonable officer would have known that the conduct was unconstitutional; or (2) a court has held that the specific conduct at issue is constitutional. The bill applies to federal, state, and local law enforcement officers. It also specifies that law enforcement agencies and local governments may not be held liable if their officers are entitled to qualified immunity.

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Timeline

1. 16 January 2025

   Introduced

   Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

   Source: IntroReferral

2. 16 January 2025

   Introduced

   Introduced in Senate

   Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

2 official files

• Introduced in Senate

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 16 January 2025

  DownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 16 January 2025

  Open at official source

Sponsors

• Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Budd, Ted [R-NC] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Scott, Rick [R-FL] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Crapo, Mike [R-ID] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Hyde-Smith, Cindy [R-MS] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Mullin, Markwayne [R-OK] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Risch, James E. [R-ID] · R · Sponsor
• Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA] · R · Cosponsor
• Sen. Moreno, Bernie [R-OH] · R · Cosponsor
• · ssju00 · Standing

Related records

• related to → Qualified Immunity Act of 2025