H.R. 3602 — Ending Qualified Immunity Act

This section declares congressional findings on the history of the Act of April 20, 1871 (Ku Klux Klan Act), which enacted section 1983 of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. § 1983) to provide remedies against state and local officials for violating federal rights under color of law, and asserts that the Supreme Court's qualified immunity doctrine—developed from Pierson v. Ray (1967) and Harlow v. Fitzgerald (1982)—has frustrated Congress's intent by limiting plaintiff recoveries.

This section states the sense of Congress that qualified immunity is an erroneous interpretation of section 1979 of the Revised Statutes and that Congress must correct it by applying the statute's plain text, which imposes liability for deprivation of rights under color of law without limits based on the defendant's good-faith belief or the right not being clearly established.

This section amends 42 U.S.C. 1983 (civil action for deprivation of rights under color of state or local law) by adding subsection (b) to bar, in any action pending on or filed after the date of enactment, defenses that (1) the defendant acted in good faith; (2) the defendant believed, reasonably or otherwise, that his or her conduct was lawful; (3) the rights, privileges, or immunities deprived were not clearly established; or (4) 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. (Thus, the provision eliminates the qualified immunity defense for state and local government officials and employees.)