Official Summaries

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.

Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 122 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 122

   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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 16, 2025

Mr. Banks (for himself, Mr. Budd, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mrs. Blackburn, 
  Mr. Sheehy, Mr. Crapo, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr. Mullin, and Mr. Risch) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 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 2025''.

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 of the United States has observed 
        that qualified immunity balances 2 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 striking ``Every'' and inserting ``(a) In General--
        Every''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Applicability to Law Enforcement Officers.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Law enforcement agency.--The term `law 
                enforcement agency' means any Federal, State, Tribal, 
                or local public agency--
                            ``(i) engaged in supervision, prevention, 
                        detection, investigation, or the incarceration 
                        of any person for any violation of law; and
                            ``(ii) that has the statutory powers of 
                        arrest or apprehension.
                    ``(B) Law enforcement officer.--The term `law 
                enforcement officer'--
                            ``(i) means any Federal, State, Tribal, or 
                        local official who--
                                    ``(I) 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
                                    ``(II) has the statutory powers of 
                                arrest or apprehension; and
                            ``(ii) includes police officers and other 
                        agents of a law enforcement agency.
            ``(2) No liability.--
                    ``(A) Law enforcement officers.--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--
                            ``(i) 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 any reasonable law 
                        enforcement officer would have understood that 
                        the conduct alleged constituted a violation of 
                        the Constitution or Federal law; or
                            ``(ii) 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.
                    ``(B) Law enforcement agencies and units of local 
                government.--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--
                            ``(i) is found not liable under paragraph 
                        (1); and
                            ``(ii) was acting within the scope of their 
                        employment.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made under subsection (a) shall 
take effect on the date that is 180 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act.
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