qualified immunity

noun

qualified immunity

noun

1

Law US A doctrine protecting some government officials from suit if no prior court decision had declared similar conduct to be actionable, or if they acted in good faith.

It is no disparagement of the offices held by petitioners to hold that Presidential aides, like Members of the Cabinet, generally are entitled only to a qualified immunity.1982 Harlow v. Fitzgerald 457 U.S. 800
Erma Aldaba sought to hold police liable for her son’s deadly encounter with police, but qualified immunity ended her lawsuit before it could even get to trial.2020 May 8, “Shielded”, in Reuters:

1 more example

How many courtrooms can these cowards walk right through? / In the land of opportunity, where qualified immunity / Keeps a red dot locked on the community, uh / Tell you to face up when your face is getting laced up / Shooting from the hip, always aiming for the waist up / Untouchables can still get touched / Let 'em call for backup, 'cause there's always more of us, run up2022, “'III'”, performed by Stray From The Path:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.