Feds can now be sued directly for officer misconduct—no agency approval needed
S. 3803 — Right to Redress Act · Filed by Cory Booker (D-NJ) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 9, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill removes the requirement that people injured by federal law enforcement officers must file administrative claims with federal agencies before suing the U.S. government for damages. Instead, injured parties can go directly to federal court, and if they request it, their case will be heard by a jury rather than a judge alone. The bill applies to claims arising from negligent or wrongful acts by any federal law enforcement officer acting within their job duties.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to expand access to federal court and jury trial for citizens harmed by federal law enforcement, removing administrative gatekeeping and strengthening individual remedies against government misconduct.
What the text implies
- Removal of the administrative-claim requirement may increase federal litigation volume and costs to the U.S. government, potentially affecting federal budgets and agency resources.
- Jury-trial availability in these cases may produce more unpredictable outcomes and higher damage awards than administrative or bench-trial processes, shifting risk to the federal government.
- The definition of 'Federal law enforcement officer' is broad and includes any agent authorized to investigate federal law, potentially covering a wide range of federal employees and contractors.
- The bill's retroactive applicability ('any claim arising before, on, or after the date of enactment') may expose the government to a surge of previously time-barred or administratively-resolved claims if claimants can argue the statute of limitations should be reset.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens injured by federal law enforcement gain a faster, more direct path to court and the right to jury trial, removing a procedural barrier that previously delayed justice. This strengthens accountability and access to remedy for a vulnerable group—those harmed by government agents.
Who stands to gain
- civil rights attorneys and plaintiff's bar (increased litigation and contingency-fee opportunities)
- expert witnesses and litigation support services
Named in the bill
U.S. Department of Justice, Federal law enforcement agencies (FBI, DEA, ATF, Secret Service, etc.), Federal courts, Administrative agencies (as procedural gatekeepers being bypassed)
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Democrats.
- Feb 9, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Feb 9, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $670,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 20 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Cory Booker, the sponsor, reported $496,300 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Civil Liberties Union — $670,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,411 characters) on Aug 20, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Feds can now be sued directly for officer misconduct—no agency approval needed” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s3803 Report an error
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