Institutional Relationships
Legislative Immunity
The constitutions of 43 states provide legislators with a fundamental protection of free speech and debate referred to as legislative immunity. The intent is to allow them to work independently and unimpeded by the threat of executive or judicial intervention in the discharge of their legislative duties. Minnesota's constitutional language illustrates this approach: "For any speech or debate in either house they shall not be questioned in any other place." Minnesota's statutes provide additional clarification: "No member, officer, or employee of either branch of the legislature shall be liable in a civil action on account of any act done in pursuance of legislative duties."
State court decisions interpreting the extent of protection afforded by legislative immunity vary. While legislators are protected from liability, are they also protected from having to testify about their legislative actions? Are legislative documents protected from judicial inquiry? These are just some of the questions that may not be fully resolved as states struggle to balance unencumbered legislative deliberations with a trend toward more open government under "sunshine" laws and Freedom of Information Acts.
- Wattson, Peter S. Legislative Immunity in Minnesota. Senate Counsel & Research, State of Minnesota, November 21, 2006.
- Reig, Michael. "Recent Decisions Construing the Speech and Debate Clause of the Wisconsin Constitution," presentation before a joint session of the National Conference of State Legislatures Legal Services, Research Librarians, and Research and Committee Staff Sections, Chicago, September 22, 2005.
- Huefner, Steven F. The Neglected Value of the Legislative Privilege in State Legislatures, 45 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 221 (2003).
 Separation of Powers
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