New Bill of Rights

Rejected category · High topline, low floor; stale; statutory

Eliminate Qualified Immunity for Policing

Eliminating qualified immunity so police can be sued drew 42% of Republicans and 79% of Democrats (Cato/YouGov, 2020); no fresh independent poll exists, and Congress could end the doctrine by statute.

Rejected 2026-08-06. A rejection is not a judgment that the issue doesn't matter — it is a judgment that the category cannot pass the full-spectrum test today. The evidence, the test, and the path back are below.

The proposal

Qualified immunity is a defense the courts read into the federal civil-rights statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1983: an official who violates a person’s constitutional rights is shielded from damages unless the right was “clearly established” at the time.1 The amendment as commonly framed would end the defense: no officer of government may escape civil liability for violating a person’s constitutional rights on the ground that the right was not previously clearly established. Variants confine it to law enforcement, cap officer liability as Colorado’s statute does,2 or state the principle as accountability: not knowing the law is not a defense.

The evidence

The best independent reading: asked in July 2020 whether to “eliminate qualified immunity so that police officers can be sued for misconduct even if there is no previous legal case with similar facts,” 63% of Americans were in favor — 42% of Republicans, 64% of independents, and 79% of Democrats (Cato Institute / YouGov, 2020). Cato advocates ending the doctrine; the fieldwork was YouGov’s and the crosstabs are published.3

Democrats: 79% 79% Dem Republicans: 42% 42% Rep Independents: 64% 64% Ind bipartisan floor · 42% (Republicans)
Eliminate qualified immunity so police officers can be sued for misconduct even without a prior similar case — Cato Institute / YouGov, 2020

Other independent polls agree:

  • A forced choice between civilians having “the power to sue police officers … even if that makes the officers’ jobs more difficult” and officers being “shielded from such lawsuits” went 66% to 32% for the power to sue — 45% of Republicans and 84% of Democrats, leaners included (Pew Research Center, 2020) — a bound, not a standalone level of support.4
  • Respondents briefed and shown arguments on both sides favored “amending qualified immunity” at 63% — 41% of Republicans, 64% of independents, 84% of Democrats (University of Maryland Program for Public Consultation, 2020).5
  • The newest reading with a party split — allow citizens to sue individual officers accused of excessive force or misconduct — fell from 59% to 54% between April 2021 and May 2022: Republicans 30% then 28%, independents 52% then 51%, Democrats 84% then 77% (UMass Amherst / YouGov).6

Advocacy polling agrees: Data for Progress, a progressive firm, found 46% of Republicans, 59% of independents, and 73% of Democrats for “ending the practice of qualified immunity” (April 2021).7 The House passed an omnibus abolishing the defense for law enforcement 220–212 in March 2021 — Republicans 1–210, Democrats 219–2 — not a cross-party vote.8 Colorado and New Mexico removed the defense in state court by statute;29 no state has put the question to voters.

The test it failed

The bipartisan floor is 42% of Republicans (Cato/YouGov, 2020): Weak. Every Republican reading of the mechanism from 2020 to 2022 falls between 28% and 46%; every Democratic reading, between 73% and 84%. Four failure modes apply.

  • High topline, low floor. A 63–66% national majority (Cato, Pew, 2020) conceals a 42–45% Republican and 79–84% Democratic split.
  • Staleness. Every credible number dates from June 2020 to May 2022, the period of peak attention to policing after the killing of George Floyd. The one re-ask found declined (UMass, 2022), and no independent 2023–2026 national poll with party breakdowns was found.6
  • Framing dependency. In the same Cato/YouGov sample, the accountability principle — officers held accountable even if unaware their actions were illegal — drew 64% of Republicans; the mechanism drew 42%.3
  • Abuse-vs-remedy gap. Republicans backed a misconduct registry at 70% and a duty to intervene at 71% in the survey that put “amending qualified immunity” at 41% (Maryland, 2020).5 The remedy itself splits.

The why-an-amendment test is also weak, and decisive. The doctrine is a construction of a statute, and Congress can end it by ordinary law: every federal proposal has been a bill,10 bills in the current Congress would codify it11 and abolish it,12 and two states have removed it by statute. Even a Strong floor would place this on the statutory list rather than the platform.

Framings we tested

One framing clears the bar. “Officers should be held accountable for misconduct even if they were unaware at the time that their actions were illegal” drew 79% overall — 64% of Republicans, 75% of independents, 91% of Democrats (Cato/YouGov, 2020) — Strong, barely.3 It is a principle, not the mechanism. Written as constitutional text it becomes a liability rule, and that rule, named in the same sample, drew 42% of Republicans — a 22-point drop inside one survey. It has never been re-polled.

Nothing else comes close. After briefing and arguments, 56% of Republicans rated the change at least “tolerable”; tolerability is not support (Maryland, 2020).5 A reform package described without naming the doctrine drew 55% of Republicans, then 34% after a counter-argument (Data for Progress, advocacy-commissioned, 2021).13 In the same Cato survey, 55% agreed ending the immunity could leave police “too afraid to do their jobs effectively”; no independent pollster has run that costs-named framing against the elimination question.3

The path back

The category reopens if an independent pollster, with 2026-or-later fieldwork, finds 60% or more of Republicans supporting the operative clause in accountability language — for example, “a government official who violates a person’s constitutional rights may be sued for damages, and not knowing the law is not a defense” — and the number holds through a costs-named follow-up. A red- or purple-state legislature or ballot measure adopting a Colorado-style civil action with a cross-party majority would also count. Absent either, the category stays rejected.

Sources

  1. Officials are shielded unless they violated “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known” — Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982). ↩

  2. Colorado SB 20-217, signed June 19, 2020 (House 52–13, Senate 32–1), created a state civil action in which “qualified immunity is not a defense,” with a $25,000 / 5% officer-liability cap and mandatory indemnification — Colorado General Assembly. ↩ ↩2

  3. Eliminate qualified immunity so police can be sued: 63% favor / 37% oppose — 42% R / 64% I / 79% D; officers held accountable even if unaware their actions were illegal: 79% — 64% R / 75% I / 91% D; no lawsuit avoidance by ignorance of the law: 77% (no party split); 55% agreed ending it could leave police “too afraid to do their jobs effectively”; n=2,000 adults, July 1–6, 2020 — Cato Institute / YouGov. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. Forced choice, power to sue vs. shielded from lawsuits: 66% / 32% — 45% R / 84% D (including leaners); n=4,708 adults, June 16–22, 2020 — Pew Research Center. ↩

  5. Deliberative survey, “amending qualified immunity”: 63% favor — 41% R / 64% I / 84% D; 56% of Republicans rated it at least “tolerable”; misconduct registry 70% R, duty to intervene 71% R; n=3,226 registered voters, July 2–9, 2020 — University of Maryland Program for Public Consultation, report; press release. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. Allow citizens to sue individual police officers accused of excessive force or misconduct: 59% (April 2021) → 54% (May 5–9, 2022); R 30% → 28%, I 52% → 51%, D 84% → 77%; n=1,000 each — UMass Amherst Poll, toplines; crosstabs; release. ↩ ↩2

  7. “Ending the practice of ‘qualified immunity’”: 59% support / 27% oppose — 46% R / 59% I / 73% D; n=1,209 likely voters, April 2–5, 2021; advocacy-commissioned — Data for Progress / Vox dataset. ↩

  8. George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, H.R. 1280 (117th Congress), passed the House 220–212 on March 3, 2021; Republicans 1–210, Democrats 219–2; never voted on in the Senate — Clerk of the House, Roll Call 60; Congress.gov. ↩

  9. New Mexico Civil Rights Act, signed April 7, 2021, effective July 1, 2021, bars the defense for suits under the state bill of rights, with a $2 million cap — Office of the Governor of New Mexico; related state actions surveyed by NCSL. ↩

  10. Ending Qualified Immunity Act, H.R. 7085 (116th Congress, June 2020), the first federal abolition bill; 66 cosponsors, 65 Democrats and 1 Republican — Congress.gov. ↩

  11. Qualified Immunity Act of 2025, S. 122 (119th Congress), would codify the doctrine by statute; in the Senate Judiciary Committee — Congress.gov. ↩

  12. Qualified Immunity Abolition Act of 2026, S. 3625 (119th Congress), would end the doctrine; in the Senate Judiciary Committee — Congress.gov. ↩

  13. Justice in Policing Act described by its non-immunity provisions: 74% — 55% R / 78% I / 88% D; after a counter-argument, 62% — 34% R / 86% D; n=1,182 likely voters, Feb. 23–25, 2021; advocacy-commissioned — Data for Progress; dataset. ↩

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