What is qualified immunity?

• A. A doctrine that protects government officials only in criminal cases.
• B. A doctrine that grants absolute immunity from all lawsuits to government officials.
• C. A doctrine shielding government officials from lawsuits unless they violate clearly established rights or act with malice or gross negligence.
• D. A general rule that officials are never liable in civil cases.

Answer: (C)

Qualified immunity is a doctrine that protects government officials from civil liability for actions taken in the course of their official duties, as long as those actions did not violate rights that were clearly established at the time and that a reasonable official would have known about. It isn’t absolute protection, and it doesn’t apply in criminal cases. The key idea is that officials can act without fear of being sued for every mistake, but that protection can be removed if their conduct clearly violated a constitutional or statutory right that was clearly established when it happened. In practice, if a right was clearly established and the official’s conduct violated it, the shield does not apply; if that right wasn’t clearly established or the official acted reasonably under the circumstances, qualified immunity still protects them. The option described captures this balance by emphasizing the protection unless there is a violation of clearly established rights (and notes that extreme misconduct can remove the shield).