To provide for civil liability in the case of any judicial officer who acts with intentional disregard for public safety or gross negligence in a bond determination or sentencing decision.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
Creates a civil cause of action against federal, State, and local judicial officers whose bond or sentencing decisions injure someone through intentional disregard for public safety or gross negligence, strips immunity defenses in those suits, and defines the covered terms.
Who Benefits and How
People injured by especially reckless bond or sentencing decisions could gain a direct path to seek damages, including punitive damages, from the responsible judicial officer.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Judicial officers would face greater personal liability exposure and loss of otherwise available immunity defenses, and courts would have to adjudicate a new category of lawsuits.
Key Provisions
- Allows injured persons to sue a judicial officer and obtain court-ordered relief, including punitive damages, by clear and convincing evidence.
- Limits the new liability to conduct involving intentional disregard for public safety or gross negligence, and excludes good-faith judicial acts within ordinary discretion.
- Bars Federal or State immunity defenses from being asserted in the authorized civil actions.
- Defines covered judicial officers, bond determinations, sentencing decisions, and intentional disregard for public safety.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates a civil cause of action against federal, State, and local judicial officers whose bond or sentencing decisions injure someone through intentional disregard for public safety or gross negligence, strips immunity defenses in those suits, and defines the covered terms.
Key Policy Areas
Justice, Public Safety, Civil Liability
Primary Purpose
Creates a civil cause of action against federal, State, and local judicial officers whose bond or sentencing decisions injure someone through intentional disregard for public safety or gross negligence, strips immunity defenses in those suits, and defines the covered terms.
Policy Domains
Main Provisions
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- People injured by grossly unsafe bond or sentencing decisions
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Judicial officers exposed to personal civil liability and the courts hearing the new suits
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Moore of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
People injured by covered bond or sentencing decisions who can now bring civil claims
Federal, State, and local judicial officers making bond or sentencing decisions under the new liability standard
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology