Qualified immunity
Etymology
"Qualified" because the protection is conditional, not absolute. The doctrine was created by the US Supreme Court, not by statute, in cases from 1967 and refined in 1982, and its "clearly established law" test has become a high bar for plaintiffs — a frequent target of reform arguments.
noun phrase · /KWOL-ih-fyd ih-MYOO-nih-tee/
A US legal doctrine that shields government officials from lawsuits unless they violated a "clearly established" right.
What it names
A central obstacle in policing-accountability debates — why officials so often escape civil liability even when they cause harm.
Example
The suit was dismissed on qualified immunity because no prior case had ruled that exact conduct unlawful.
Related idea
A specific carve-out from ordinary liability: qualified immunity blocks the accountability that liability normally imposes, unless a tightly defined condition is met.
See also