Ending Qualified Immunity Act

This bill, titled the "Ending Qualified Immunity Act," aims to significantly reform civil rights litigation by amending Section 1979 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1983). Its core purpose is to remove the defense of qualified immunity , which currently shields government officials from liability in civil lawsuits unless their conduct violates clearly established statutory or constitutional rights. The legislation seeks to ensure individuals can more effectively hold officials accountable for constitutional violations. The bill's findings highlight that Section 1983, enacted as part of the Ku Klux Klan Act, originally provided a cause of action against officials violating federal rights without including a good-faith or "clearly established" rights defense. It asserts that the doctrine of qualified immunity was a judicial creation by the Supreme Court, which Congress believes has frustrated the original intent of Section 1983. The amendment explicitly prohibits using defenses such as acting in good faith, believing conduct was lawful, or that the violated rights were not "clearly established" at the time of the incident, applying to both pending and future cases.