Representative Ayanna Pressley, along with Senate cosponsors Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Ed Markey, will reintroduce the Ending Qualified Immunity Act, according to new reporting from The Intercept. If this legislation is signed into law, victims of police brutality and their families would face one less hurdle to getting justice and accountability.
Although the original cosponsors of the legislation are all Democrats, ending qualified immunity has broad-based support from the “libertarian Cato Institute, to NFL quarterback Tom Brady, to the American Civil Liberties Union, and even Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.” The Campaign to End Qualified Immunity is itself a great example of this.
This bill is a partner to the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which was reintroduced last week in Congress. The George Floyd Act does include reforms to qualified immunity, but does not do as good of a job at getting rid of qualified immunity as the Ending Qualified Immunity Act.
Senator Markey had this to say about the newly reintroduced bill: “It’s time we end the outdated and judge-made doctrine of qualified immunity and start delivering accountability for the officers who abuse their positions of trust and responsibility in our communities. There will not be true racial justice until we end qualified immunity.”
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