{"id":186123,"date":"2021-03-02T07:29:36","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T12:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=186123"},"modified":"2021-03-02T08:41:18","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T13:41:18","slug":"lawmakers-reintroduce-bill-to-abolish-qualified-immunity-for-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawmakers-reintroduce-bill-to-abolish-qualified-immunity-for-police\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill to Abolish Qualified Immunity for Police"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flawmakers-reintroduce-bill-to-abolish-qualified-immunity-for-police%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=186123&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A group of lawmakers has renewed efforts to make it easier to sue police officers\u00a0for damages by reintroducing a bill that seeks to eliminate \u201cqualified immunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The group led by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.markey.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/markey-pressley-reintroduce-legislation-to-fully-end-qualified-immunity\">Sen. Edward J. Markey<\/a> (D-Mass.) and\u00a0Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) on Monday reintroduced the Ending <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-qualified-immunity\">Qualified Immunity<\/a> Act that attempts to abolish the\u00a0Supreme Court-made legal doctrine.<\/p>\n<p>The doctrine insulates government officials from civil liability for their conduct. It reentered the public consciousness amid protests last summer against police violence following George Floyd\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<p>Critics say the bill prevents officials from facing consequences for misconduct or abuse of power if their actions violate the U.S. Constitution, but do not contravene a \u201cclearly established\u201d rule.<\/p>\n<p>Proponents say the bill is important to allow government officials such as police officers to carry out their jobs with protection from undue interference and threats of liability.\u00a0They also say it prevents frivolous or retaliatory lawsuits against officers.<\/p>\n<p>The Ending Qualified Immunity Act, which was introduced last year by Pressley and then-Rep. Justin Amash (L-Mich.), seeks to amend\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/42\/1983\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">42 U.S.C. \u00a7 1983<\/a>, commonly known as Section 1983, <a href=\"https:\/\/pressley.house.gov\/sites\/pressley.house.gov\/files\/EQIA%20One%20Pager%202021.pdf\">to explicitly say the doctrine (pdf)<\/a> cannot be used as a defense in civil liability lawsuits.<\/p>\n<p>Section 1983 provides a basis for people to sue state officials who violate a person\u2019s constitutional rights. But\u00a0under the Supreme Court\u2019s current interpretation of the law, it is not enough to show that the rights are violated. Victims must also show that the action was \u201cclearly established,\u201d and if they fail the official could be granted qualified immunity.<\/p>\n<p>The law is also backed by Sens.\u00a0Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and more than a dozen Democrat House members.<\/p>\n<p>Last June, the Supreme Court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/mkt_app\/supreme-court-denies-to-hear-challenges-to-legal-doctrine-shielding-police-from-misconduct-lawsuits_3389194.html\">declined to\u00a0revisit the qualified immunity<\/a> doctrine by rejecting\u00a0eight major cases (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/orders\/courtorders\/061520zor_f2bh.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) that presented opportunities for justices to reconsider the protection. However, the decision to reject the cases was not entirely unanimous.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3706538\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Clarence-Thomas-1-1200x720-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"384\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Associate Justice Clarence Thomas poses for the official group photo at the U.S. Supreme Court in the District of Columbia on Nov. 30, 2018. (Mandel Ngan\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in dissent in one of those cases,\u00a0Baxter v. Bracey (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/orders\/courtorders\/061520zor_f2bh.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>), that he would have granted the petition to review the case.\u00a0The\u00a0Baxter case involves officers who released a police dog on a suspect to arrest him. In the process, the dog bit the suspect. The suspect alleged that he had already surrendered when the dog was released to arrest him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have previously expressed my doubts about our qualified immunity jurisprudence,\u201d Thomas wrote in his dissent. \u201cBecause our Section 1983 qualified immunity doctrine appears to stray from the statutory text, I would grant this petition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He commented on the \u201cclearly established\u201d rule, arguing that \u201cthere likely is no basis for the objective inquiry into clearly established law that our modern cases prescribe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeading treatises from the second half of the 19th century and case law until the 1980s contain no support for this \u2018clearly established law\u2019 test. Indeed, the Court adopted the test not because of \u2018general principles of tort immunities and defenses,\u2019 but because of a \u2018balancing of competing values\u2019 about litigation costs and efficiency,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cclearly established\u201d rule is seen to be problematic by critics of the doctrine. It requires the party suing the official to show that the facts in their case were sufficiently similar to the facts in prior court cases.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Sonia Sotomayor has also previously criticized the doctrine.<\/p>\n<p>Some Republicans last year also took steps to introduce <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/republican-senator-introduces-legislation-to-limit-qualified-immunity-for-police_3399327.html\">legislation to limit civil liability protection<\/a>, prompting pushback from police groups.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe protection aids officers in carrying out their duties and obligations to serve the public and enforce the law. While there is no doubt that bad actors have brought this issue to the forefront, we believe qualified immunity serves to protect all police officers legitimately performing their duties, and it allows the public to recover damages in cases where a police officer has violated the person\u2019s rights,\u201d the Indiana State Police Alliance said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ispa1974\/status\/1277823933442600960\">statement at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Former President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, which has been open to police reform, has criticized calls to eliminate qualified immunity. Trump\u2019s last Attorney General, William Barr, said that in situations in which an officer knowingly and willfully violates a well-established right, then it may be appropriate to hold the officer civilly liable. But he said qualified immunity is necessary to ensure police officers can do their job without fear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cQualified immunity provides breathing space for officers to do their job without fear that an inadvertent or unpredictable error will subject them to personal financial ruin,\u201d Barr said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/to-prevent-police-excessive-force-civilians-should-not-resist-arrests-ag-barr_3545829.html\">in October last year<\/a>. \u201cWithout qualified immunity, individual officers would be deterred from taking the kinds of risky steps that are absolutely necessary to protect the community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A group of lawmakers has renewed efforts to make it easier to sue police officers\u00a0for damages by reintroducing a bill that seeks to eliminate \u201cqualified immunity.\u201d The group led by\u00a0Sen. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274527,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Clarence-Thomas-1-1200x720-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill to Abolish Qualified Immunity for Police","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Clarence-Thomas-1-1200x720-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill to Abolish Qualified Immunity for Police","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}