II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION 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
JANUARY16, 2025
Mr. B
ANKS(for himself, Mr. BUDD, Mr. SCOTTof Florida, Mrs. BLACKBURN,
Mr. S
HEEHY, Mr. CRAPO, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr. MULLIN, and Mr.
R
ISCH) 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 sec-
tion 1979, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Qualified Immunity 4
Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) Qualified immunity is intended for all but 8
the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly vio-9
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•S 122 IS
late the law and is meant to give government offi-1
cials breathing room to make reasonable mistakes of 2
fact and law. 3
(2) The Supreme Court of the United States 4
has observed that qualified immunity balances 2 im-5
portant interests: The need to hold law enforcement 6
officers accountable when they exercise power irre-7
sponsibly and the need to shield officers from har-8
assment, distraction, and liability when they perform 9
their duties reasonably. 10
SEC. 3. CODIFICATION OF QUALIFIED IMMUNITY. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 1979 of the Revised Stat-12
utes (42 U.S.C. 1983) is amended— 13
(1) by striking ‘‘Every’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) I
N 14
G
ENERAL—Every’’; and 15
(2) by adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘(b) A
PPLICABILITY TOLAWENFORCEMENT OFFI-17
CERS.— 18
‘‘(1) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 19
‘‘(A) L
AW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY .—The 20
term ‘law enforcement agency’ means any Fed-21
eral, State, Tribal, or local public agency— 22
‘‘(i) engaged in supervision, preven-23
tion, detection, investigation, or the incar-24
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•S 122 IS
ceration of any person for any violation of 1
law; and 2
‘‘(ii) that has the statutory powers of 3
arrest or apprehension. 4
‘‘(B) L
AW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER .—The 5
term ‘law enforcement officer’— 6
‘‘(i) means any Federal, State, Tribal, 7
or local official who— 8
‘‘(I) is authorized by law to en-9
gage in or supervise the prevention, 10
detection, investigation, or the incar-11
ceration of any person for any viola-12
tion of law; and 13
‘‘(II) has the statutory powers of 14
arrest or apprehension; and 15
‘‘(ii) includes police officers and other 16
agents of a law enforcement agency. 17
‘‘(2) N
O LIABILITY.— 18
‘‘(A) L
AW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS .—A 19
law enforcement officer subject to an action 20
under this section in their individual capacity 21
shall not be found liable if such law enforce-22
ment officer establishes that— 23
‘‘(i) the right, privilege, or immunity 24
secured by the Constitution or Federal law 25
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was not clearly established at the time of 1
their deprivation by the law enforcement 2
officer, or that at this time, the state of 3
the law was not sufficiently clear that any 4
reasonable law enforcement officer would 5
have understood that the conduct alleged 6
constituted a violation of the Constitution 7
or Federal law; or 8
‘‘(ii) a court of competent jurisdiction 9
had issued a final decision on the merits 10
holding, without reversal, vacatur, or pre-11
emption, that the specific conduct alleged 12
to be unlawful was consistent with the 13
Constitution and Federal laws. 14
‘‘(B) L
AW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES AND 15
UNITS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT .—A law en-16
forcement agency or unit of local government 17
who employed a law enforcement officer subject 18
to an action under subsection (a), shall not be 19
liable for such action if the law enforcement of-20
ficer— 21
‘‘(i) is found not liable under para-22
graph (1); and 23
‘‘(ii) was acting within the scope of 24
their employment.’’. 25
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(b) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made 1
under subsection (a) shall take effect on the date that is 2
180 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 3
Æ
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