Qualified Immunity Act of 2023

Subjects: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues, Civil actions and liability, Constitution and constitutional amendments, Due process and equal protection, Government liability, Law enforcement officers

Summary:  <p><b>Qualified Immunity Act of 2023</b> <p> This bill provides statutory authority for qualified immunity for law enforcement officers in civil cases involving constitutional violations. <p> 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 <i>Bivens</i> 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. <p>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. <p>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.<p>

<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 233 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 233

   To amend the Revised Statutes to codify the defense of qualified 
 immunity in the case of any action under section 1979, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 10, 2023

  Mr. Banks introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Revised Statutes to codify the defense of qualified 
 immunity in the case of any action under section 1979, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Qualified Immunity Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Qualified immunity is intended for all but the plainly 
        incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law and is meant 
        to give government officials breathing room to make reasonable 
        mistakes of fact and law.
            (2) The Supreme Court has observed that qualified immunity 
        balances two important interests, the need to hold law 
        enforcement officers accountable when they exercise power 
        irresponsibly and the need to shield officers from harassment, 
        distraction, and liability when they perform their duties 
        reasonably.

SEC. 3. CODIFICATION OF QUALIFIED IMMUNITY.

    (a) In General.--Section 1979 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 
1983) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a) In General--'' before ``Every 
        person''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(b) Applicability to Law Enforcement Officers.--
            ``(1) A law enforcement officer subject to an action under 
        this section in their individual capacity shall not be found 
        liable if such law enforcement officer establishes that--
                    ``(A) the right, privilege, or immunity secured by 
                the Constitution or Federal law was not clearly 
                established at the time of their deprivation by the law 
                enforcement officer, or that at this time, the state of 
                the law was not sufficiently clear that every 
                reasonable law enforcement officer would have 
                understood that the conduct alleged constituted a 
                violation of the Constitution or Federal law; or
                    ``(B) a court of competent jurisdiction had issued 
                a final decision on the merits holding, without 
                reversal, vacatur, or preemption, that the specific 
                conduct alleged to be unlawful was consistent with the 
                Constitution and Federal laws.
            ``(2) A law enforcement agency or unit of local government 
        who employed a law enforcement officer subject to an action 
        under subsection (a), shall not be liable for such action if 
        the law enforcement officer is found not liable under paragraph 
        (1) and was acting within the scope of their employment.
    ``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Law enforcement officer.--The term `law enforcement 
        officer' means any Federal, State, Tribal, or local official 
        who is authorized by law to engage in or supervise the 
        prevention, detection, investigation, or the incarceration of 
        any person for any violation of law, and has the statutory 
        powers of arrest or apprehension, including police officers and 
        other agents of a law enforcement agency.
            ``(2) Law enforcement agency.--The term `law enforcement 
        agency' means any Federal, State, Tribal, or local public 
        agency engaged in supervision, prevention, detection, 
        investigation, or the incarceration of any person for any 
        violation of law, and has the statutory powers of arrest or 
        apprehension.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made under subsection (a) shall 
take effect on the date that is 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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