If signed by the Governor, California would become the fifth state this year to let residents sue ICE, Border Patrol, and other federal agents for constitutional violations — meaning more than 70 million Americans would live in a state with this kind of legal protection.

The California State Legislature today passed Senate Bill 747, the No Kings Act. Authored by state Senator Scott Wiener and co-sponsored by Protect Democracy United, the bill now heads to Governor Gavin Newsom. If the governor signs the bill, California would become the fifth state this year to give residents a universal remedy when federal law enforcement officers violate their constitutional rights, joining New York, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. 

The Act is a landmark piece of legislation that creates a state-law cause of action allowing any person to sue a federal, state, or local government officer who violates the U.S. Constitution. At a time when democratic norms face unprecedented pressure, this law provides the necessary legal guardrails to ensure that constitutional accountability does not depend on what badge an officer was wearing when they acted — only on whether the Constitution was violated.

“Today’s vote means Californians harmed by a federal agent’s misconduct are one step closer to a real day in court,” said Cameron Kistler of Protect Democracy United, who testified in both the Senate and the Assembly Judiciary Committees in support of the bill earlier this year. “We urge Governor Newsom to sign it into law without delay.”

The passage of legislation like this is central to Protect Democracy’s mission of preventing American democracy from declining into a more authoritarian form of government. The No Kings Act closes a loophole in how federal, state, and local officials are held accountable to the Constitution. While a federal law, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, allows people to sue state and local officials for constitutional violations, no equivalent federal law exists for suing federal officials. Instead, people injured by federal officials have historically relied on a “Bivens action” — a limited, implied right to sue directly under the Constitution.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court gutted the Bivens remedy in Egbert v. Boule (2022). The result has been that federal officers often have de facto immunity and cannot be sued for damages, even for willful violations of constitutional rights. That creates an accountability gap with no good justification: a state or local officer who commits a constitutional violation can be sued under § 1983, while a federal officer who does the same thing often cannot be sued at all. SB 747 solves that problem by creating a single universal cause of action allowing Californians to sue any person who, acting under color of law, deprives them of rights secured by the United States Constitution.  

SB 747 is co-sponsored by Protect Democracy United, Prosecutors Alliance Action, and the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice.