Repealing qualified immunity, an issue that most often comes up with employees of public schools, is a priority for some state Democratic lawmakers.

Lawmakers and police reform advocates rallied in the Capitol on Wednesday in support of repealing qualified immunity, a law that protects public employees from being sued over misconduct. While it affects a wide range of workers, the protection from liability in cases of police brutality has gained the most notoriety. As the governor pushes a public safety agenda, the gathered advocates argued that ending qualified immunity is essential to ensuring people’s safety.

The issue of qualified immunity gained particular prominence during the 2020 protests against police brutality in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. That summer, state Sen. Robert Jackson and Assembly Member Pamela Hunter introduced legislation to end the legal defense at the state level for the first time. “We cannot have public safety without trust,” Jackson said during the rally. “We cannot have trust without accountability.”

Right now, a person can bring a lawsuit against the state or the body that employs the public servant – for example, the New York City Police Department – but the public employee themself can use qualified immunity as a defense to avoid personal liability. The reason is that under the court-created rule, the person suing has to prove that the individual knowingly violated “clearly established” law through precedent set by a previous...

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