Reps. Hostetler and Sodrel (among others, including Rep. Spencer “Bill Maher is a Trator” Bachus) have introduced legislation to limit 42 U.S.C. 1983 civil rights actions. Specifically, they want to limit the remedy for violations of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to injunctive relief only. Currently, any civil rights violation under color of state law is subject to a monetary judgment. In addition, successfully prosecuting violations of the First Amendment’s prohibition against establishment of religion –unlike every other kind of civil rights violation– would not entitled the Plaintiff to an award of attorney’s fees.
The current text of 42 U.S.C. 1983 is here. If our fine Religion Establishing representatives were successful, the new statute would look like this:
Sec. 1983. Civil action for deprivation of rights
(a) Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress
applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.
(b) The remedies with respect to a claim under this section where the deprivation consists of a violation of a prohibition in the Constitution against the establishment of religion shall be limited to injunctive relief.
Also, 42 U.S.C. 1988(b) would be changed to look like this:
(b) Attorney’s fees
In any action or proceeding to enforce a provision of sections 1981, 1981a, 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1986 of this title, title IX of Public Law 92-318 [20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.], the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 [42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.], the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 [42 U.S.C. 2000cc et seq.], title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 [42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.], or section 13981 of this title, the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity such officer shall not be held liable for any costs, including attorney’s fees, unless such action was clearly in excess of such officer’s jurisdiction. However, no fees shall be awarded under this subsection with respect to a claim described in subsection (b) of section nineteen hundred and seventy nine.
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