S 4142 · 116th Congress 2019–2021, ended

Ending Qualified Immunity Act

Introduced Jul 1, 2020 Originated Senate Sponsor Edward J. Markey D-MA

Fact sheet

Latest action · Jul 1, 2020 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

IntroducedJul 1, 2020
Passed SenateNot reached
Passed HouseNot reached
To the PresidentNot reached
Became lawNot reached

Summary

Ending Qualified Immunity Act

This bill eliminates the defense of qualified immunity in civil actions for deprivation of rights. Qualified immunity is a judicially created doctrine that protects government employees or those acting with state authority from being held personally liable for constitutional violations.

The bill provides that under the statute allowing a civil action alleging deprivation of rights under color of law, it shall not be a defense or immunity to any such action that (1) the defendant was acting in good faith or believed that his or her conduct was lawful at the time it was committed; (2) the rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution or laws were not clearly established at the time of their deprivation; or (3) the state of the law was such that the defendant could not reasonably have been expected to know whether his or her conduct was lawful.

Cosponsors 2

Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Jul 1, 2020.

Seat	Cosponsor		Signed on
I-VT	Bernard Sanders	Original	Jul 1, 2020
D-MA	Elizabeth Warren	Original	Jul 1, 2020

Actions 2

Everything that happened, newest first.

Jul 1, 2020Introduced in Senate
Jul 1, 2020Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Related bills 3

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

Bill	Title	Relationship	Latest action
S 4036	Reforming Qualified Immunity Act	Related bill	Jun 23, 2020
HR 7085	Ending Qualified Immunity Act	Identical bill	Jun 4, 2020
HR 8979	Qualified Immunity Abolition Act	Related bill	Dec 16, 2020

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

Jul 1, 2020Introduced in Senate

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.