Harris, Markey, Booker Introduce Senate Resolution to Abolish Qualified Immunity for Law Enforcement

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) June 3, announced a new Senate resolution that calls for the elimination of qualified immunity for law enforcement officers. Qualified immunity is a judge-made doctrine that protects law enforcement officers from being sued in their personal capacity and being held personally liable for their excessive use of force or brutality. In its passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1871, Congress expressly allowed for individuals to sue public officials, including police officers, who deprive them of their civil rights. But in the century and a half since, the Supreme Court has gutted this landmark law. It created and then expanded the novel defense of so-called qualified immunity for police officers.

Also co-sponsoring the resolution are Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).

Qualified immunity affects people of color disproportionately because they are disproportionately victims of excessive force at the hands of law enforcement. According to a National Academy of Sciences study black men are two-and-a-half times more likely to be killed by law enforcement over their lifetime than white men. Over the course of their lives, approximately one in every 1,000 black men can expect to be killed by police.

Under qualified immunity, the police are immune from liability unless the person whose rights they violated can show that there is a previous case in the same jurisdiction, involving the exact same facts, in which a court deemed the actions to be a constitutional violation.

A copy of the resolution can be found here, senate-resolution.