Section 1983 Litigation

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In the United States of America, the primary method of enforcing an infringement of civil rights by governmental authority is an action (i.e., lawsuit) brought under the terms of Section 1983 of Title 42 ("The Public Health and Welfare") of the United States Code. Enacted in 1871, the statute that later came to be codified as Section 1983 was part of a larger statute popularly known as the "Ku Klux Klan Act." After the American Civil War and the historic period known as Reconstruction (circa 1865 - 1872) that followed it, this law was passed in response to widespread resistance by state and local authorities to efforts of the federal government to "reconstruct" the South (i.e., rebuild infrastructure destroyed in the war, as well as "reconstruct" society without the institution of slavery). The enactment of Section 1983 was nearly revolutionary in that it distinguished itself from prior civil rights laws by permitting the plaintiff to bring the civil rights lawsuit directly against the defendant in federal court without first having to obtain an order or judgment (or lack of one) in state court in a process known as "exhaustion of remedies."