Sponsors (5)
The bill strengthens victims' ability to hold judges and government actors financially accountable and clarifies who is a 'covered defendant,' but it does so by exposing judges to personal liability—creating strong incentives toward harsher pretrial decisions, higher litigation costs, and legal complexity.
Victims of harm caused by a released defendant can sue judges or government entities to recover damages, creating a direct accountability mechanism for pretrial release decisions.
The bill adopts 18 U.S.C. §16's 'crime of violence' definition to clarify who qualifies as a 'covered defendant,' reducing ambiguity for law enforcement, prosecutors, and courts.
Judges (federal and state) lose judicial immunity for release-related decisions, exposing them to personal liability and potential personal financial risk.
Removing or limiting judicial immunity and creating liability risk may push judges toward more conservative decisions, deterring appropriate pretrial release and increasing pretrial detention and its social/economic harms for low-risk defendants and their families.
The threat of more lawsuits could raise litigation and indemnity costs for courts and local governments, increasing taxpayer expenses to defend or settle claims.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows harmed persons to sue judges or government entities in federal court for damages when a released defendant (a repeat violent offender charged with a violent crime) harms another, and removes judicial immunity as a defense.
Official title: To authorize civil actions against judges who, and other government entities that, release repeat offenders on bail, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 11, 2025 by Randy Fine · Last progress September 11, 2025
Creates a federal private right of action allowing a person harmed by a defendant who was released pending trial to sue the judge or other government entity that ordered the release for damages when that released person injures someone while on release. The bill removes judicial immunity as a defense to such suits, defines which defendants qualify as "covered defendants" (people charged with and previously convicted of a statutory "crime of violence"), and clarifies that "judge" includes both Federal and State judges.