Qualified immunity

Common card · No. 246800

Qualified immunity is a legal doctrine in United States law that grants government officials—in the performance of their duties—immunity from lawsuits unless the plaintiff shows that the official violated civil or constitutional rights, or acted outside of their scope of authority. It is comparable to sovereign immunity, though it protects government employees rather than the government itself. It is less strict than absolute immunity, by protecting officials who "make reasonable but mistaken judgments about open legal questions", extending to "all [officials] but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law". Qualified immunity applies only to government officials in civil litigation, and does not protect the government itself from suits arising from officials' actions. The U.S. Supreme Court first introduced the qualified immunity doctrine in Pierson v. Ray (1967), a case litigated during the height of the civil rights movement. It is stated to have been originally introduced...

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