Anarchy Disguised as Reform: Ohio’s Proposed Constitutional Amendment to Abolish Qualified Immunity Is Anything But

by Thomas Spyker, Esq. and Patrick Kasson, Esq.

Ohio’s proposed constitutional amendment—deceptively titled the Protecting Ohioans’ Constitutional Rights Amendment—threatens to strip nearly 800,000 public-sector employees of their constitutional right to a jury trial, while exposing them to ruinous lawsuits over the most innocent mistakes, such as a typo.

On April 23, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the path for the Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity (OCEQI) to gather signatures for this dangerous amendment. The Court refused to review litigation over OCEQI’s ballot summary, affirming the Sixth Circuit’s ruling that it’s protected political speech. Protected? Yes. Honest? Not so much. OCEQI’s effort misleads voters, and their campaign peddles outright lies.

OCEQI claims the amendment abolishes qualified immunity. Wrong. Qualified immunity is a federal defense under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, untouchable by Ohio’s Constitution. Knowing this, OCEQI schemes to dodge federal law by creating a state-level claim for Ohio Constitution violations. This new cause of action obliterates protections for 800,000 Ohioans, inviting lawsuits against broadly defined government actors, a term that would include basic volunteers under this scheme.

The key provisions are a direct assault on due process, judicial fairness, and practicality:

• Strict Liability Standard: Prove a government actor caused a constitutional violation by a preponderance of evidence. Intent, negligence, or reasonableness? Irrelevant.
• No Right to a Jury (for the public employees): Plaintiffs alone pick judge or jury trials, denying defendants their constitutional right to a jury.
• Unlimited Damages and Attorney Fees: Plaintiffs can claim uncapped economic and non-economic damages, plus attorney fees, fueling frivolous lawsuits.
• Vicarious Liability: Taxpayers foot the bill for employees’ conduct, even if the state or city had no role, and even if they discipline the employee.
• Elimination of All Immunities: The amendment prevents courts from using a qualified immunity-like analysis on these new claims. But it also wipes sovereign, prosecutorial, judicial, and legislative immunity, long standing doctrines with completely different functions in our society.
• Six-Year Statute of Limitations: Claims can linger for six years, triple Ohio’s two-year personal injury limit.

The Strict Liability Standard Will Lead to an Unprecedented Rise in Frivolous Lawsuits Against All Public Sector Employees

The amendment’s strict liability standard is a disaster nobody’s talking about. It’s simple and devastating: No government actor shall deprive anyone of a constitutional right. Anyone claiming a violation can sue. No need to prove negligence or intent—just show the act happened.

Combining the strict liability with the broad scope of Ohio’s constitution creates Ohio’s biggest-ever expansion of civil claims. Utterly frivolous lawsuits would become viable overnight and will flood courts. Consider these examples:

• Typo Trouble: A teacher emails student records to the wrong parent due to an auto-fill error. Ohio’s Constitution (Article I, Section 1) protects student privacy. The typo violates it. The parents sue for unlimited damages and must win under this amendment. The parents may not get much money for damages, but the attorneys representing them will submit six-figure legal bills that the municipality will be forced to pay.
• DMV Blunder: A clerk misreads a record and suspends a driver’s license, violating due process (Article I, Section 16). The driver sues for damages over a days-long inconvenience, and this driver will find an attorney to take this case because the law disproportionately incentivizes an attorney to take it.
• Bee Sting Chaos: A park cleanup volunteer misses bees near a trash can. Moving it stirs the bees, stinging bystanders. Ohio’s right to be free from harm (Article I, Section 1) is violated. The bystanders sue.
• Legislative Disarray: A state senator sponsors a bill regulating public protests—intended to ensure safety, but poorly drafted, leading to vague language about permissible speech and the law later gets overruled as unconstitutional. Because the Amendment strips all immunities, any legislator that voted for this law and any cops, prosecutors, or judges that enforced it—while it was on the books—are opened up to being sued.

If your reaction is to dismiss these examples as far-fetched, that would be a mistake. The attorney fees provision guarantees lawsuits. Lawyers can rake in fees for any win, no matter how trivial, making every mistake a jackpot.

The Amendment Wipes Out the Basic Right to a Jury Trial for Ohio’s Nearly 800,000 Public Sector Employees.

Ohio’s Constitution (Article I, Section 5) guarantees a jury trial. Current law lets either party demand one. The amendment obliterates this. Plaintiffs alone choose the trial type, rigging the game. They’ll pick juries to inflame emotions or judges to exploit biases. This isn’t justice; it’s a massive rollback of one of Ohio’s most important constitutional rights, the right to demand an impartial panel of one’s peers,

The impact on Ohio’s 800,000 public-sector employees—spanning police officers, teachers, clerks, and health officials—is profound. These workers, already navigating high-stakes roles, will face lawsuits without the protection of a jury’s perspective, leaving them vulnerable to cherry-picked venues and plaintiff-driven verdicts.

The Unlimited Damages and Vicarious Liability Components Would Drain Tax Coffers Defending and Paying Out These Lawsuits.

There is a real impact to every Ohioan on the cost of this all. Unlimited damages and uncapped attorney fees combined with vicarious liability spell financial ruin for governments. Plaintiffs can claim millions for emotional distress over inconveniences and even if they do not get it, their attorneys will get six figure pay days on every case, regardless of outcome. Public entity insurers will withdraw from the state and the legal fees accrued in defending these claims will force service cuts and tax hikes.

The Six-Year Statute of Limitations Creates an Unreasonably Long Lawsuit Window.

The six-year statute of limitations triples Ohio’s two-year personal injury limit. Plaintiffs can wait years to sue, when evidence is gone and memories fade. A teacher’s 2025 typo could spark a 2031 lawsuit. A senator’s old bill could haunt them years later. This invites opportunistic claims, draining public resources.

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This amendment is not reform, it’s anarchy. It crushes fairness for average, ordinary citizens just doing their jobs. All Ohioans—and especially members of the State bar—should stand united in rejecting this opportunistic ploy pretending to be reform.

If you have any questions regarding this proposed constitutional amendment, please contact an attorney from Reminger's Governmental and Public Entity Liability Practice Group.