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118th Congress Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues

H.R. 233: Qualified Immunity Act of 2023

Introduced

  1. Introduced (completed)Jan 10, 2023
  2. Passed House (not reached)
  3. Passed Senate (not reached)
  4. To the President (not reached)
  5. Became law (not reached)

Summary

Introduced in House, Jan 10, 2023

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.

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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.

Written by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.

Roll calls

0 votes on this bill

No roll call votes have been held on this bill.

Amendments

0 offered

No amendments were offered to this bill.

Cosponsors

40

Who scored on this bill

6 points earned
  1. 1Jim Banks R-IN SponsorIntroduced, reached a cosponsor milestone2 events+6
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Introductions and cosponsorships count toward weekly caps and show no points.

Other bills by Jim Banks

History

  1. Jan 10, 2023Introduced in the House by Jim Banks.
Show the full action history (2 actions)
  1. Jan 10, 2023Introduced in House
  2. Jan 10, 2023Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.