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Gov­ern­ment agen­cies have sig­nif­i­cant pro­tec­tions against law­suits by indi­vid­u­als for mis­treat­ment, even if they inten­tion­al­ly vio­lat­ed the law.

They are giv­en a pass most­ly under the legal con­cept of “qual­i­fied immu­ni­ty,” which pro­vides they are pro­tect­ed unless a court “clear­ly estab­lished” in a pre­vi­ous case that the actions were unconstitutional.