S. 122 — Qualified Immunity Act of 2025

This section states congressional findings on qualified immunity, including that (1) it is intended for all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law and is meant to give government officials breathing room to make reasonable mistakes of fact and law; and (2) the Supreme Court has observed that it balances the need to hold law enforcement officers accountable when they exercise power irresponsibly and the need to shield officers from harassment, distraction, and liability when they perform their duties reasonably.

This section amends 42 U.S.C. 1983 (civil actions for deprivation of rights under color of state or local law) by redesignating the existing text as subsection (a) and adding subsection (b) to codify qualified immunity defenses for law enforcement officers, agencies, and units of local government sued under the section. Subsection (b) defines "law enforcement agency" as any Federal, State, Tribal, or local public agency engaged in supervision, prevention, detection, investigation, or incarceration for law violations with statutory arrest powers; and "law enforcement officer" as any such official authorized for those activities with arrest powers (including police and agency agents). It provides that an officer sued individually is not liable if the officer shows (1) the right was not clearly established at the time of deprivation, or the law was not sufficiently clear that a reasonable officer would have known the conduct violated the Constitution or federal law; or (2) a court issued a final merits decision (not reversed, vacated, or preempted) holding the specific conduct consistent with the Constitution and federal laws. A law enforcement agency or unit of local government employing the officer is not liable if the officer is found not liable under the individual standard and was acting within the scope of employment. (Thus, these statutory defenses mirror and formalize the Supreme Court-created qualified immunity doctrine previously applied by courts in Section 1983 cases.) The amendments take effect 180 days after enactment.