H.R. 1789: Promptly Ending Political Prosecutions and Executive Retaliation Act of 2025

This bill expands the types of federal officials who may remove (i.e., transfer) state cases brought against them to federal court. It also establishes a presumption of immunity for federal officials in these cases.

The federal officer removal statute authorizes certain defendants (e.g., federal officers) to remove to federal court a civil action or criminal prosecution brought against them in state court if the claims or charges relate to official duties. Often, defendants who invoke the federal officer removal statute raise claims of official immunity.

In recent years, the statute received public attention when then-former President Donald Trump and former officials sought to invoke the statute. For example, in Georgia v. Meadows, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows could not remove Georgia’s criminal prosecution of him to federal court based on the federal officer removal statute because it does not apply to former federal officers, and even if it did, the charges were not related to Meadows’s official duties.

Written by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.