Senator Markey Statement on Supreme Court Refusal to Reconsider Qualified Immunity Doctrine for Law Enforcement

Press Release

Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the following statement today after the United States Supreme Court refused to hear any of several cases presenting an opportunity to reconsider the doctrine of qualified immunity. 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 allowed lower courts to expand, the novel defense of so-called qualified immunity for police officers.

"Today, the U.S. Supreme Court again passed up the opportunity to fix its flawed doctrine of qualified immunity, which shields law enforcement officers from accountability for their use of violence and excessive force. In considering cases for its fall docket, the Court could have taken up any one of several separate cases challenging qualified immunity. But the Court instead punted, declining to fix the mistakes it has made, first in creating this harmful doctrine and then in allowing the lower courts to expand it.

"More than ever, the need for Congressional action is clear. We must restore the legislative intent of its 149-year-old landmark civil rights law, which gave victims of police brutality the right to their day in court through a civil action. In the coming days, I will be introducing legislation to lead the way on this call to action."

Earlier this month, Senators Markey, Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), along with Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), introduced a new Senate resolution that calls for the elimination of qualified immunity for law enforcement officers in its current form.

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