This House would abolish qualified immunity for police officers.

civic

Qualified immunity decides whether a person whose rights were violated by police can sue the officer at all. After 2020 it became one of the most contested doctrines in American law, and states have started dismantling it on their own.

Background

Qualified immunity is a judge-made doctrine that shields government officials from lawsuits unless they violated a right already established in a nearly identical prior case, a bar so specific that officers have escaped suits over conduct courts agreed was unconstitutional. Colorado, New Mexico, and New York City moved to strip or bypass it for police after the 2020 protests, and the federal attempt to end it stalled in Congress. Supporters of abolition argue immunity removes the one real deterrent against abuse and leaves victims with no remedy. Opponents argue officers make split-second decisions, that personal liability would make policing impossible to staff, and that cities would simply indemnify every officer anyway, moving the cost to taxpayers rather than changing behavior.

Government opens with

A right you cannot sue to enforce is not a right, it is a suggestion.

Opposition responds with

Strip immunity and either nobody takes the job, or the city pays every judgment and nothing changes but the letterhead.