qualified immunity

noun

law : immunity from civil liability that is conditioned or limited (as by a requirement of good faith or due care)

especially : immunity from lawsuits that is granted to public officials (such as police officers) for acts that violate someone's civil rights if it can be shown that the acts do not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would be aware

An officer conducting a search is entitled to qualified immunity where clearly established law does not show that the search violated the Fourth Amendment.

—Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223 (2009)

Wayne Jones's family won a small victory this month when the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the officers involved in his killing could not claim qualified immunity.

—Hailey Fuchs

By bypassing qualified immunity, but paying out judgments assessed against the officers, Colorado's new law ensures that victims are made whole and that good cops aren't deterred from doing their jobs.

—Nick Sibilla

Examples of qualified immunity in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Moreover, the qualified immunity that prosecutors have for purposes of not enabling lawsuits aimed at redressing good faith prosecutions, applies to prosecutors, not investigators—and the FBI is an investigatory agency. —Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 24 Dec. 2024

Don't miss these Here's a look at how Tammy Baldwin and Eric Hovde differ on qualified immunity legislation for police officers and which law enforcement groups have endorsed them. —Hope Karnopp, Journal Sentinel, 27 Oct. 2024

There is a notion of qualified immunity for federal officials, and especially prosecutors, from being sued for their official acts, but this would be unlikely to apply when a federal official brings legal proceedings knowingly and maliciously to seek retribution. —Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 24 Dec. 2024

One of the biggest sticking points was qualified immunity, a legal principal to allow civil lawsuits against police officers and municipalities in cases of police shootings, officer misconduct, and abuse of power. —Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 10 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1859, in the meaning defined above

Legal Definition

qualified immunity

see immunity