Sponsors (39)
The bill strengthens federal tools to deter and punish attacks on judges, prosecutors, and first responders and speeds finality in related cases, but does so by expanding federal reach, raising capital and mandatory sentencing exposure, curtailing post‑conviction and civil remedies, and increasing firearms access in public federal spaces—trading broader protections for public‑safety officials against reduced review, accountability, and potential public-safety and fiscal costs for civilians and a
Judges, prosecutors, law-enforcement officers, firefighters and other covered first responders gain stronger federal protections, new federal offenses (including an interstate flight offense), and clearer statutory authority for tougher penalties (including capital aggravators), increasing the federal ability to deter and prosecute violent attacks on public-safety and justice officials.
Victims’ families and public-safety communities are likely to see quicker finality and reduced delay in enforcement of convictions for killings of officers and judges due to tighter limits on stays, clarified timing rules for habeas petitions, and streamlined procedural rules.
Qualified active and retired law-enforcement officers are permitted to carry or possess firearms in more federal facilities and certain school zones (with a required AG regulatory timeline), allowing armed officers to respond more quickly to threats and reducing uncertainty for facility security managers.
State and local defendants and governments face expanded federal criminalization as assaults and related conduct that were traditionally handled locally can be prosecuted federally, increasing federal reach into state criminal matters and reducing state control over prosecution choices.
People accused of killing or attempting to kill covered officials face a substantially higher risk of extreme punishments — including expanded capital aggravators, long mandatory minimums, and more frequent pursuit of the death penalty — raising concerns about proportionality and escalating stakes of prosecutions.
Individuals convicted in covered cases lose or face narrowed avenues for federal habeas review and other post-conviction relief (shorter filing windows, limits on certain motions), increasing the chance that wrongful convictions or sentencing errors go uncorrected.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Creates new federal crimes and tougher penalties for attacks on judges and public-safety officers, restricts habeas and civil-rights remedies in such cases, and expands firearms-carry rules for qualified officers.
Introduced December 4, 2025 by John Cornyn · Last progress December 4, 2025
Creates new federal crimes and harsher penalties for killing or assaulting judges, federal law enforcement officers, and certain federally funded public safety officers; makes fleeing across state or national borders to avoid prosecution for those killings a separate federal offense with a mandatory minimum. It adds that killing or attempting to kill covered public-safety actors is an aggravating factor in federal capital cases, narrows federal habeas review and certain postconviction relief for state convictions involving the killing of judges or public safety officers, limits available relief and fee awards in some civil-rights suits, and expands when and where qualified active and retired law enforcement officers may possess or carry firearms (including in some federal facilities and expanded school-zone exceptions).