Civic term
Qualified Immunity
What it means
A defence that shields a government official from personal liability in a civil suit unless their conduct violated a clearly established statutory or constitutional right that a reasonable official would have known about.
Definition drawn from law.cornell.edu · last verified 2026-08-17
Sift's plain-language summary of the cited source, not a quotation from it.
How it's being covered
90 stories in Sift's index, from 22 outlets.
Filed 2026-05-12 — 2026-09-25.
Counts stories whose headline or summary uses the term, plus stories where Sift's own reading notes flagged it — many pieces turn on a term they never spell out in the headline.
Across the spectrum
- Left24 stories
- Center21 stories
- Right42 stories
Positions are AllSides' published ratings, shown for the outlets that filed these stories. 3 stories are counted in the total above but not placed here — either the outlet has no published rating, or Sift has not yet matched the name it files under to a dossier.
Who's covering it
- ReasonLean Right 23
- CBS NewsLean Left 11
- New York PostRight 9
- The HillCenter 6
- NPRCenter 5
- PBS NewsHourCenter 5
- The GuardianLean Left 5
- The Washington TimesLean Right 4
- Fox NewsLean Right 3
- ABC NewsLean Left 2
- BBC NewsCenter 2
- ProPublicaCenter 2
- The AtlanticLean Left 2
- The New York TimesLean Left 2
- Washington ExaminerLean Right 2
- Ars Technica1
- Bloomberg NewsCenter 1
- ESPN1
- SlateLeft 1
- The Daily CallerRight 1
- The Hollywood Reporter1
- The InterceptLeft 1
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