Police reform deal hinges on ‘qualified immunity’

A deal may hinge on whether the two parties can agree on changes to “qualified immunity,” which shields law enforcement officers from liability, even in cases in which they break the law or are charged with misconduct.

House Democrats have twice passed police reform legislation that would end qualified immunity to increase officer liability, in addition to other significant changes in the nation’s policing policies.

They say qualified immunity makes it difficult to hold police fully accountable for excessive force and other misconduct.

On Tuesday, Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd, a black man whom Chauvin arrested over a phony $20 bill. Chauvin was caught on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes, ignoring the pleas of Floyd, who said he could not breathe.

While the two parties said the verdict would provide the impetus for a long-sought deal on police reform legislation, both sides dug in on qualified immunity.

The day of the Chauvin verdict, news broke of a shooting in Columbus, Ohio. An officer fatally shot a black, 16-year-old girl who was allegedly attempting to stab another teenager. Even though body camera footage showed that the officer appeared to shoot to prevent the girl from stabbing another child, the shooting provoked nationwide outrage.

Rep. Karen Bass, an Ohio Democrat who is among those negotiating a police reform deal, said excessive shootings would be curbed by ending qualified immunity.

The House bill, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, would eliminate immunity protections for officers whose actions are deemed “reckless.”

“The main point is that we have to figure out a way to prevent these shootings from continuing to happen,” Bass told reporters. “And until officers are held accountable, there’s no reason to think they won’t happen. Holding officers accountable is really the bottom line.”

But Republicans staunchly oppose ending qualified immunity, which they said would hinder crime prevention.

They support a bill authored by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott that makes more moderate reforms to law enforcement and keeps qualified immunity intact.

Similar to the House bill, Scott’s measure would end federal law enforcement officers from employing the chokehold maneuver.

The JUSTICE Act would have also expanded police body camera use and required new reporting by law enforcement on the use of force.

Senate Democrats filibustered Scott’s bill, arguing that it did not go far enough to reform police departments or hold them accountable to end excessive use of force and unjustified police killings, particularly those involving minorities.

Democrats now control the Senate majority and are urging the passage of the police reform bill twice passed by the Democratic-led House.

The bill would ban police from using the chokehold maneuver and tie it to federal funding to ensure local police also ended the practice. The House bill would also ban “no-knock” warrants for drug cases. It would bolster accountability and reporting requirements for police use of force, ban racial profiling, and mandate training on discriminatory profiling.

Scott, the Senate’s only black Republican, told reporters that he is working to convince Democrats to examine allowing victims to sue police departments and not individual officers.

Scott will provide the GOP rebuttal next week following President Joe Biden’s inaugural address to Congress.

“Improving the victim’s family or the victim to go after the departments is what I said last year on the floor and in most interviews, and I think that is a way that we can make progress toward a bill that actually has the kind of impact that I think is helpful,” Scott said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, told reporters on Thursday that the House bill’s qualified immunity change “is very important” but did not rule out a compromise.

“I think everybody knows this has to be a serious bill that will make a difference,” Pelosi said.