Federal

Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act of 2023

Source: Congress.gov · 401 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill adds a new rule to federal law that makes it illegal to lock someone up or detain them based solely on who they are (their race, religion, gender, or other similar traits). The bill protects individuals in the United States from unlawful detention when that detention happens only because of these protected characteristics.

Who It Affects

Individuals in the United States. The bill also gives the Attorney General (the head of the Department of Justice) a role in determining if additional characteristics should be protected.

Key Provisions

• No person can be imprisoned or otherwise detained based solely on an actual or perceived protected characteristic (Sec. 2) • Protected characteristics include race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability (Sec. 2) • The Attorney General can determine if additional characteristics should be added as protected characteristics (Sec. 2) • The Attorney General cannot remove any of the eight listed characteristics (race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability) from the definition of protected characteristic (Sec. 2)

What Changes

Federal law will now explicitly prohibit detention or imprisonment based solely on a protected characteristic. The law adds these protections to Section 4001 of Title 18 of the United States Code.

Important Definitions

Protected characteristic: Race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or any additional characteristic the Attorney General determines to be protected.

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 639 To ensure due process protections of individuals in the United States against unlawful detention based solely on a protected characteristic. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 30, 2023 Mr. TAKANO (for himself, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. CHU, and Ms. MATSUI) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju- diciary A BILL To ensure due process protections of individuals in the United States against unlawful detention based solely on a protected characteristic. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Korematsu-Takai Civil 4 Liberties Protection Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION AGAINST UNLAWFUL DETENTION. 6 Section 4001 of title 18, United States Code, is 7 amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 Feb 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H639.IH H639 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 639 IH (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub- 1 section (c); and 2 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol- 3 lowing: 4 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION ON DETENTION BASED ON PRO- 5 TECTED CHARACTERISTICS.— 6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No individual may be im- 7 prisoned or otherwise detained based solely on an ac- 8 tual or perceived protected characteristic of the indi- 9 vidual. 10 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 11 ‘protected characteristic’ includes each of the fol- 12 lowing: 13 ‘‘(A) Race. 14 ‘‘(B) Ethnicity. 15 ‘‘(C) National origin. 16 ‘‘(D) Religion. 17 ‘‘(E) Sex. 18 ‘‘(F) Gender identity. 19 ‘‘(G) Sexual orientation. 20 ‘‘(H) Disability. 21 ‘‘(I) Any additional characteristic that the 22 Attorney General determines to be a protected 23 characteristic. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 Feb 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H639.IH H639 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 639 IH ‘‘(3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 1 this subsection shall be construed to allow the Attor- 2 ney General to remove a characteristic described in 3 subparagraphs (A) through (H) of paragraph (2) 4 from the definition of the term ‘protected char- 5 acteristic’ under this subsection.’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 Feb 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H639.IH H639 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

Important: This plain English summary was generated by AI and is provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Always consult the official bill text on Congress.gov or a qualified attorney for legal matters.