actor unnecessary, and replaced it with an objective reasonableness standard that requires that the right be clearly established at the time of the violation for the defendant to be liable. (9) This doctrine of qualified immunity has severely limited the ability of many plaintiffs to recover damages under section 1983 when their rights have been violated by State and local officials. As a result, the intent of Congress in passing the law has been frustrated, and Americans' rights secured by the Constitution have not been appropriately protected. 3. Sense of the Congress It is the sense of the Congress that we must correct the erroneous interpretation of section 1979 of the Revised Statutes which provides for qualified immunity, and reiterate the standard found on the face of the statute, which does not limit liability on the basis of the defendant's good faith beliefs or on the basis that the right was not clearly established at the time of the violation. 4. Removal of qualified immunity Section 1979 of the Revised Statutes ( 42 U.S.C. 1983 ) is amended by adding at the end the following: In any suit pending on, or filed after, the effective date of the Ending Qualified Immunity Act of 2021, it shall not be a defense or immunity to any action brought under this section that the defendant was acting in good faith, or that the defendant believed, reasonably or otherwise, that his or her conduct was lawful at the time when it was committed. Nor shall it be a defense or immunity that the rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution or Federal laws were not clearly established at the time of their deprivation by the defendant, or that the state of the law was otherwise such that the defendant could not reasonably have been expected to know whether his or her conduct was lawful. .