D.C. Trails Maryland and Virginia in Civil Rights Efforts to End Qualified Immunity
According to the Institute of Justice, a nonprofit public interest law firm and advocacy organization, the Washington, D.C. Council has not yet tried to pass legislation to end qualified immunity, which protects victims - a federal legal doctrine that protects government employees - including when they violate constitutional rights - from lawsuits stemming from a school official strip-searching a student or police officers stealing cash and rare coins. There are currently efforts in the Maryland and Virginia legislatures to enact these protections.
The reason this is important is that because of qualified immunity it is very difficult to sue government officials when they violate someone's rights. Legally, qualified immunity involves a judge-created two-part test to determine ability to sue: (1) A rights violation has to have occurred, and (2) that violation must be “clearly established” in case law. That basically means you can sue only if you can find another case with the exact same circumstances and where a judge ruled against the government. Because judges can throw out cases without even deciding if a rights violation occurred, this often ends up being a barrier.
The Institute for Justice ranked D.C. as one of the worst jurisdictions in the country for victims of rights abuses, along with Delaware and four other states, with an F grade. New Mexico leads the nation in state-law redress thanks to the New Mexico Civil Rights Act. Enacted in 2021, that law lets victims sue the employer of any government worker who violates their state constitutional rights and specifically bans the use of “qualified” or “sovereign” immunities. This guarantees that courts have to take rights violations in that state seriously.
Ending qualified immunity does not mean government officials will be punished for good-faith, split-second mistakes. But it would help restore trust and accountability to government officials.
Read the March 4, 2022 Washington Post article.
