Congress·In Committee·S. 1601

Journalist Protection Act

Journalist Protection Act: Federal Penalties for Assaulting Reporters

May 5, 2025·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

This bill is one vehicle in a longer effort. See the full story across every version.View effort →

Next up: A senate committeeNo action in 14 months

The Journalist Protection Act is currently in the early stages of the legislative process. It has been sent to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary for review and is not yet scheduled for a vote. The bill is considered active as it waits for the committee to decide on its next steps.

Legislative Progress

Senate

House

President

Law

Unlikely to pass

This bill currently lacks bipartisan support and faces a difficult path in a divided Congress where federalizing local crimes is often debated.

How we got here

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from S. 1412 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
S. 1412 (118th) →

Key Points

This bill creates new federal crimes for attacking journalists. It covers anyone working for news outlets like newspapers, websites, TV, or radio who is gathering information to share with the public.
If someone intentionally hurts a journalist while they are working, the attacker could face up to three years in prison. If the injury is very serious, the prison time could go up to six years.
The law would only apply if the attacker knew the person was a journalist and was trying to stop them from doing their job or reporting the news.
Supporters believe this will help protect reporters who face threats or violence while covering protests, political rallies, and other public events.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

May 5, 2025Senate

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.

May 5, 2025

Introduced in Senate

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

No votes or news coverage recorded for this bill yet.

Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

Journalist Protection Act

Bill NumberS 1601

Congress119th Congress

ChamberSenate

Latest ActionRead twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Data Sources

Congress.gov

Official legislative information

Read Full Bill Text

Sponsor

Cosponsors

(1)

D: 1

Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.