Ending Qualified Immunity Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 3602 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3602 To amend the Revised Statutes to remove the defense of qualified immunity in the case of any action under section 1979, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 23, 2025 Ms. Pressley (for herself, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Carson, Mr. Frost, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Ms. Norton, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Pingree, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Tlaib, and Ms. Williams of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Revised Statutes to remove 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 ``Ending Qualified Immunity Act''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress finds the following: (1) Congress passed the Act of April 20, 1871 (commonly known as the ``Ku Klux Klan Act''; 17 Stat. 13, chapter 22) to enforce the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and combat rampant violations of civil and constitutionally secured rights across the United States, particularly those of newly freed slaves and other Black people in the post-Civil War South. (2) Included in that Act was a provision, now codified at section 1979 of the Revised Statues (in this section referred to as ``section 1983''), which provides a cause of action for individuals to file lawsuits against persons acting under color of law, including State and local officials, who violate their Federal legal and constitutionally secured rights. (3) Under section