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Qualified Immunity — the Birth of a Doctrine
By Nana Dadzie Ghansah
In 1871, the Reconstruction-era Congress passed the Ku Klux Klan Act. Section 1 of that act would later become known at 42 U.S.C. § 1983 or “Section 1983” in 1874.
It was originally passed to help African-Americans enforce the new constitutional rights they won after the Civil War.
“Those amendments made slavery illegal, established the right to “due process of law” and equal protection of the laws, and guaranteed every male citizen the right to vote. Although these Amendments became law, white racist judges in the state courts refused to enforce these laws, especially when people had their rights violated by other state or local government officials. The U.S. Congress passed Section 1983 to allow people to sue in federal court when a state or local official violated their federal rights.” (Excerpt from “Jailhouse Lawyer’s Handbook, Chapter 1).
The law states that:
“Every person who, under color (under state authority) of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or…
