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HR 162
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First Amendment Accountability Act

To provide for a right of action against Federal employees for violations of First Amendment rights.

Introduced Jan 3, 2025

Latest action (Jan 3, 2025) Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Referred to
Judiciary Committee
Policy area
Law
Legislative subjects (4)
Civil actions and liabilityFirst Amendment rightsGovernment employee pay, benefits, personnel managementLawyers and legal services

Summary

This bill creates a private right of action allowing citizens to sue individual Federal employees for violations of First Amendment rights. The lawsuit can be brought against any executive branch Federal employee (excluding the President and Vice President) who, acting under color of Federal authority, deprives someone of First Amendment protections. The bill includes an exception preventing Federal employees from suing their own Federal employer or the Federal Government for conduct within their employment relationship. Courts may award attorney's fees to the prevailing party (other than the United States) in such lawsuits.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)
15 cosponsors

Actions (2)
  1. Jan 3, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
  2. Jan 3, 2025 Introduced in House

More bills on these subjects (8)

Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).

  • HR 7148 — Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (shares 4 subjects)
  • HR 7006 — Financial Services and General Government and National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2026 (shares 4 subjects)
  • S 67 — Censorship Accountability Act (shares 4 subjects)
  • HR 9770 — Continuing Appropriations Act, 2027 (shares 3 subjects)
  • S 1071 — National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 (shares 3 subjects)
  • S 2296 — National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 (shares 3 subjects)
  • S 2882 — Continuing Appropriations and Extensions and Other Matters Act, 2026 (shares 3 subjects)
  • HR 5450 — Continuing Appropriations and Extensions and Other Matters Act, 2026 (shares 3 subjects)

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

  • HR 1232 — National Right-to-Work Act · Introduced Feb 12, 2025 · Cong. 119 71%
  • HR 143 — Unauthorized Spending Accountability Act · Introduced Dec 2, 2025 · Cong. 119 71%
  • HR 218 — State Immigration Enforcement Act · Introduced Jan 7, 2025 · Cong. 119 70%
  • HR 182 — Default Prevention Act · Introduced Jan 3, 2025 · Cong. 119 69%
  • HR 196 — Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act · Introduced Jan 3, 2025 · Cong. 119 67%
  • HR 185 — Responsible Legislating Act · Introduced Mar 14, 2025 · Cong. 119 66%

Text versions (1)
  • Introduced in House · Jan 3, 2025

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Full text

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 3, 2025

Ms. Hageman (for herself, Ms. Greene of Georgia, Mr. Massie, Mr. Nehls, Mr. Cloud, Mr. Crane, Mr. Brecheen, Mr. Ogles, Mr. Cline, and Mr. Moore of Alabama) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide for a right of action against Federal employees for violations of First Amendment rights.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “First Amendment Accountability Act”.

SEC. 2. RIGHT OF ACTION AGAINST FEDERAL EMPLOYEES FOR VIOLATIONS OF FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS.

(a) In General.—A Federal employee who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of the United States, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or any person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the First Amendment, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress.

(b) Exception.—This section does not authorize a Federal employee to bring a suit against their Federal employer or the Federal Government for conduct that is within the scope of the employment relationship.

(c) Attorney’s Fees.—In any action or proceeding to enforce this Act, 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.

(d) Definition.—In this section, the term “Federal employee” means an individual, other than the President or the Vice President, who occupies a position in any agency or instrumentality of the executive branch (including any independent agency).

(e) Severability.—If any provision of this Act or the application of a provision of this Act to any person or circumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act, and the application of the provisions to any person or circumstance, shall not be affected thereby. <all>

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