Can I sue Senator Richard Pan for doing his job as a California Legislator? THAT WOULD BE A HARD NO!
I’ve been asked this question a couple times recently as the frustration of the Vaccine Concerned grow as SB 276 winds its way through the California Legislature, so a public answer might be in order.
The job of legislators is to propose and pass legislation. It doesn’t matter if a small minority or even a large majority of citizens don’t like a particular bill or law, or think its unfair, horrible or even murderous. The process is the process, regardless of how corrupt you might think it is. The remedy is to stop a bill you don’t like and/or vote the people proposing the bills you don’t like out of office.
Legislators have absolute immunity from suit with respect to their legislative activities, which is in essence proposing bills and passing them so they become law.
You can’t sue Richard Pan for proposing SB 276. It’s just a bill and it won’t become law unless a majority of both houses of the California legislature passes it. So, you would have to sue every legislator who voted for the bill, and there is no such thing in law, based on the aforementioned absolute immunity.
So, sorry, there’s no possible judicial action against Dr. Pan or any other legislator for doing his/her job, regardless of how much you don’t like what he or they are doing.
Also, and this has been asked, neither he nor any other legislator can be sued if a parent vaccinates a child and the child suffers a serious adverse event even if the parents were forced to vaccinate if SB 276 becomes law. And for same reason; absolute immunity.
Respectfully, move on and focus on stopping the bill.
Rick Jaffe, Esq.
rickjaffeesquire@gmail.com
3 thoughts on “Can I sue Senator Richard Pan for doing his job as a California Legislator? THAT WOULD BE A HARD NO!”
While I agree with many of your points… I find it difficult to agree that suing Richard Pan is impossible… he lived outside his district and was never held accountable, he has lied repeatedly during hearings (example-vaccines do not contain aborted fetal tissue), he blocks constituents on his FB page and deletes comments, and he often refuses to see constituents in his office. Is he allowed to pass legislation that directly benefits his profession? Are these not offenses? Is there no legal standing? Can one not be fired for not properly doing their job? Do they not go against his oath of office?
absolute immunity for proposing and voting on legislation, and that would include debating issues. If they’d throw out legislators who vote that benefits themselves or those they know or give them money, there would be no one to vote.
I agree in part and disagree in part with your analysis, because constituents could raise issues regarding the constitutionality of Pan’s specific bill 276; or constituents could raise issues if Pan’s 276 bill induces discriminatory practices especially towards children with existing disabilities.