Jan 16, 2026
On January 13, 2026, Senator Ed Markey and Representative Ayanna Pressley introduced the Qualified Immunity Abolition Act of 2026, a bill that would make it easier for people whose constitutional rights are violated by law enforcement to sue the officers responsible. The legislation comes less than a week after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother, on a residential street in Minneapolis.
Under current law, a legal doctrine called "qualified immunity" makes it extremely difficult to hold police officers and federal agents accountable when they use excessive force or violate someone's rights. This doctrine, created by the Supreme Court in 1967, says that officers can only be sued if a previous court case involving almost exactly the same facts already found similar conduct unlawful. If no such case exists—even when the officer's actions were clearly wrong—the victim has no legal remedy.
The new bill would eliminate this barrier entirely. If passed, victims of law enforcement misconduct would be able to bring their cases to court based on whether their rights were actually violated, not on whether some prior case happened to address the same unusual circumstances.
Senator Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who has championed climate and civil rights legislation for decades, has called qualified immunity a "flawed and judge-made doctrine" that shields officers "even when they commit egregious misconduct or use excessive force." Representative Pressley, his colleague from Massachusetts, emphasized that the bill sends a message that "when ICE agents break the law, they should and will be held accountable."
The killing of Renee Good has become a flashpoint in the national debate over law enforcement accountability. Good, a U.S. citizen who had just dropped her six-year-old son at school, was shot three times by ICE agent Jonathan Ross while in her car. Video of the incident has been widely viewed, and a recent poll found that a majority of voters believe the shooting was not justified. Good's death was the ninth time ICE agents had opened fire on people since September.
Civil rights advocates have long argued that qualified immunity prevents victims from obtaining justice and sends a message that officers can violate constitutional rights without consequences. The doctrine has faced criticism from across the political spectrum, with conservative and libertarian groups joining progressive organizations in calling for its elimination.
"For too long, victims of law enforcement abuse have been denied justice by a legal doctrine that Congress never created and never intended," said Jordan D. Howlette, Managing Attorney of Justly Prudent. "The Qualified Immunity Abolition Act represents a long-overdue restoration of the civil rights framework that our nation adopted during Reconstruction. We urge Congress to pass this legislation and ensure that when officers break the law, they can be held accountable in court."
Justly Prudent supports this legislation as a critical step toward restoring the accountability framework that Congress established during Reconstruction to protect Americans from government abuse.