Across the country, advocates and lawmakers are advancing legislation to ensure greater transparency and accountability for federal agents operating in their communities. Efforts to require officers to unmask and to ensure individuals can seek remedies when their constitutional rights are violated are gaining momentum in state legislatures.
Join Prosecutors Alliance Action, Protect Democracy United, and the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice for a national briefing for advocates working on — or interested in — these reforms.
Across the country, we’ve watched in horror as masked, anonymous officers snatch people off the streets – no name, no badge, no identification, no accountability. They’re tear-gassing protestors, arresting children, assaulting the elderly, and shooting – and even killing – individuals trying to protect their neighbors.
This isn’t public safety. This is authoritarianism.
That’s why Prosecutors Alliance Action fought to pass the No Secret Police Act (SB 627) by California Sen. Scott Wiener, which bans law enforcement officers – including federal agents – from wearing masks while policing our communities. Now, we’re working to pass the No Kings Act (SB 747), a groundbreaking bill to ensure that federal officers can be held accountable if they violate your constitutional rights.
States across the country are following suit. Hover over the maps below to learn more about the bills advancing in legislatures across the country.
The maps are best viewed on a computer.
Links to the bills are at the bottom of the page. Have an update to the maps? Email alyssa@prosecutorsalliance.org.
We have the right to know who is policing us.
We have the right to feel safe in our own neighborhoods.
We have the right to demand accountability.
When a federal agent shows up in our communities in plainclothes or a generic police vest with no name, no badge, and a covered face, the public has no way to know if they’re dealing with federal, state, or local law enforcement, or even an imposter.
That confusion doesn’t just erode trust in federal officers – it undermines confidence in every officer wearing a badge.
When communities don’t trust law enforcement, they don’t report crimes, cooperate with investigations, or seek help. That puts everyone – including officers – at greater risk.
States have a responsibility to protect their residents from dangerous conduct, including when it involves federal officers operating within their borders.
When federal agents operate in our communities, particularly in coordination with local law enforcement or while wearing uniforms that resemble state or local police, the public has a right to transparency. Anyone exercising police power in our neighborhoods – regardless of their agency – should be able to be identified and held accountable.
The Universal Constitutional Remedies Act (also known as a “converse 1983”) is a state law that allows individuals to sue any official — federal, state, or local — who violates the Constitution in court, ensuring that no one is above the law and every American can seek justice whenever government agents violate the Constitution.
Under this kind of law, individuals could seek remedies for:
Source: Protect Democracy
A quirk of our legal system has left a gaping hole in accountability structures at the federal level. Currently, you can’t sue federal officials like ICE or FBI agents for past harms that violated your constitutional rights.
To sue the government for harms it has caused, you need legal permission to do so. Lawyers call this a “cause of action.” Most are set out in various statutes. For constitutional violations by state and local officials, one can sue under a federal law known as Section 1983. The Universal Constitutional Remedies Act is sometimes called a “converse 1983” because it fills the gap left behind by that law.
But there is generally no similar legal authority that applies to federal officers. (Courts used to use what’s known as a “Bivens” action, but the Supreme Court has recently all but eliminated that pathway.) That means the only legal recourse for unconstitutional abuses by federal officials is often to try to get a court injunction — essentially, a forward-looking order to stop. Getting an injunction requires demonstrating a probability that you will suffer the constitutional injury again in the future. Needless to say, not all victims of unconstitutional conduct can show that they will be subject to a future violation of their rights.
As a result, federal officials operate with much less accountability than officials at other levels of government. The Universal Constitutional Remedies Act solves this problem by simply giving people the same right to sue federal officials that they already have for officials at other levels of government.
Source: Protect Democracy
Masking Bills
Constitutional Remedy Bills
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