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United States · Bill · HR

H.R. 233 (118th)

Qualified Immunity Act of 2023

referredUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

10 January 2023

Last action

10 January 2023 · Introduced

Status

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Sponsors

Jim Banks, Rep. Tenney, Claudia [R-NY-24], Daniel Meuser, Christopher Smith, Mary Miller, Lauren Boebert, Bill Posey, Doug LaMalfa, Rep. Kelly, Mike [R-PA-16], Michael Guest, Beth Van Duyne, Greg Pence, John Carter, James Baird, Rep. Kustoff, David [R-TN-8], Rep. Carey, Mike [R-OH-15], Andrew Clyde, Andy Barr, Don Bacon, Debbie Lesko, Richard Hudson, Doug Lamborn, Dan Bishop, Bob Good, Tony Gonzales, Barry Moore, Larry Bucshon, Virginia Foxx, Austin Scott, Rep. Finstad, Brad [R-MN-1], Rep. Malliotakis, Nicole [R-NY-11], Rep. Cammack, Kat [R-FL-3], Rep. Grothman, Glenn [R-WI-6], Victoria Spartz, Rep. Kean, Thomas H. [R-NJ-7], Rep. Garbarino, Andrew R. [R-NY-2], Rep. Lawler, Michael [R-NY-17], Nicholas Langworthy, Derrick Van Orden, Rep. Miller, Carol D. [R-WV-1], Rep. Harris, Andy [R-MD-1]

Subjects

Discovery layer

Source updated

7 September 2024

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Summary

Qualified Immunity Act of 2023 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 for every reasonable officer to know 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.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

  1. 10 January 2023

    Introduced

    Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

    Source: IntroReferral

  2. 10 January 2023

    Introduced

    Introduced in House

    Source: IntroReferral

  3. 10 January 2023

    Introduced

    Introduced in House

    Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

Documents

3 official files

Introduced in House (text)

View fileDownload file

Sponsors

Related records

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Sources

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