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Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 18, 2025
Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act of 2025
This bill prohibits the detention or imprisonment of an individual based solely on an actual or perceived protected characteristic of the individual. The term protected characteristic includes each of the following: race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and any additional characteristic that the Department of Justice determines to be a protected characteristic.
People & committees
Rep. Takano, Mark [D-CA-39] · D–CA
Legislative record
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Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
Source last updated: Apr 3, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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Analyze H.R.1439 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-18 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
H.R. 1439, the Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act of 2025, would prohibit imprisoning or otherwise detaining individual people solely because of an actual or perceived protected characteristic. These characteristics include race, religion, sex and disability, among others. The Attorney General could add protected characteristics but could not remove any that the bill explicitly lists.
This Act may be cited as the Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act of 2025.
No individual may be imprisoned or otherwise detained based solely on an actual or perceived protected characteristic of the individual.
(A) Race. (B) Ethnicity. (C) National origin. (D) Religion. (E) Sex. (F) Gender identity. (G) Sexual orientation. (H) Disability. (I) Any additional characteristic that the Attorney General determines to be a protected characteristic.
Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to allow the Attorney General to remove a characteristic described in subparagraphs (A) through (H) of paragraph (2) from the definition of the term protected characteristic under this subsection.
The proposed prohibition applies when imprisonment or other detention is based solely on a protected characteristic, including one someone is perceived to have. It does not state that a protected characteristic can never be considered alongside other grounds for detention.
No individual may be imprisoned or otherwise detained based solely on an actual or perceived protected characteristic of the individual.
The bill explicitly protects eight characteristics: race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation and disability.
(A) Race. (B) Ethnicity. (C) National origin. (D) Religion. (E) Sex. (F) Gender identity. (G) Sexual orientation. (H) Disability.
The Attorney General could designate additional protected characteristics. The bill expressly prevents interpreting this authority as permission to remove any of the eight listed characteristics.
(I) Any additional characteristic that the Attorney General determines to be a protected characteristic.
Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to allow the Attorney General to remove a characteristic described in subparagraphs (A) through (H) of paragraph (2) from the definition of the term protected characteristic under this subsection.
The bill would insert the prohibition as a new subsection (b) of section 4001 of title 18 of the United States Code and relabel the existing subsection (b) as subsection (c).
Section 4001 of title 18, United States Code, is amended— (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c); and (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following: (b) Prohibition on detention based on protected characteristics
The supplied actions snapshot, updated April 3, 2026, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on the Judiciary on February 18, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2026-04-03T16:10:24Z. 2025-02-18: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. 2025-02-18: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-18. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow preferential benefit was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. Protection against detention based solely on protected characteristics is a generally applicable civil liberty, rather than preferential treatment. This conclusion is limited to this text version.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Apr 3, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI