In a letter sent to his House colleagues on Sunday, Michigan Rep. Justin Amash asked them to support his “Ending Qualified Immunity Act.” The…
In a letter sent to his House colleagues on Sunday, Michigan Rep. Justin Amash asked them to support his “Ending Qualified Immunity Act.” The call comes in the wake of the death of George Floyd, who died while being apprehended by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and three other officers.
As reported by WKZO, the bill Amash is preparing would end the qualified immunity doctrine that has protected police from civil lawsuits that would require them to pay settlements to victims or their grieving families.
“The brutal killing of George Floyd is merely the latest in a long line of incidents of egregious police misconduct,” Amash wrote in the letter. “This pattern continues because police are legally, politically and culturally insulated… That must change so that these incidents stop happening.”
As Amash noted in his letter, the Civil Rights Act of 1871 gave individuals the right to sue local and state officials that violate their rights.
