Project on Immunity and Accountability 

Our mission is to ensure that every right guaranteed by the Constitution has a remedy in an American court.

Too often, when a government official violates someone’s constitutional rights, there is no way to hold the official accountable. Even if nobody seriously disputes that the official did something wrong, an array of immunities and other legal doctrines can make it impossible to sue—leaving individuals without recourse and officials free from the kind of accountability that prevents violations from happening again.  

The Institute for Justice is the national leader in challenging these doctrines. In 2020, IJ launched the Project on Immunity and Accountability, and since then IJ has taken on cases involving the inability to sue federal officials, qualified immunity, prosecutorial immunity, judicial immunity, and other legal barriers to suit.  

These immunities and other doctrines can stand in the way of accountability even when government officials intentionally violate the law or make obvious and preventable mistakes. IJ has taken on multiple cases where government SWAT teams raided the wrong house or detained a wrong person, including one wrong-house raid case, Martin v. United States, which IJ took all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Lower courts dismissed the case, but the Supreme Court allowed it to proceed. IJ has also taken on cases where officers held people at gunpoint or kept them in jail for days without providing any of the basic due process protections.  

A key part of IJ’s work in this area also involves accountability for official misconduct. Even where constitutional violations are obvious and largely undisputed, legal doctrines can stand in the way of accountability. We have fought for meaningful remedies in cases involving abuses by law enforcement, prosecutors misusing their power to bring unfounded criminal charges, and judicial officers tainted by obvious conflicts of interest.  

When private parties violate the law, we trust the courts to provide a remedy. The same should be true when government officials violate the Constitution.