42 U.S.C. §1983 A Civil Action for Deprivation of Rights

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress…

This Federal Statute was passed by Congress in 1871 as part of anti-Ku Klux Klan legislation providing a federal remedy for deprivations of federal rights where state and local governments were unable or unwilling to control Klan violence. Today it provides the procedural device through which constitutional violations are brought to court, and legal remedies and money damages for harms are secured. See all practice areas