Black Lives Matter - D.C. and several individual protestors brought this lawsuit on June 4, 2020 in the U.S. District Court for the District of D.C. in response to President Trump's use of military police to disperse peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square Park on June 1st, 2020. Protesters had gathered as part of the nationwide outcry following the police killing of George Floyd. Around 6:30 in the evening, following an order to clear the square from Attorney General Barr, military and federal police forces used tear gas, pepper spray capsules, rubber bullets, and flash bombs to disperse the protesters in order to clear the path for President Trump to walk to nearby St. John's Church for a photo-op.
Plaintiffs were represented by attorneys from Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, ACLU D.C., Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, and private counsel. Named defendants included President Donald Trump, Attorney General William Barr, and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, as well as the heads of several military and law enforcement agencies. The plaintiffs also sued unnamed officers, members, and agents of the U.S. Park Police, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Armed Forces, the Arlington County Police Department, and other federal and non-federal law enforcement agencies. The complaint alleged violations of the First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, 42 U.S.C. 1985(3) (conspiracy to deprive rights), and 42 U.S.C. 1986 (failure to prevent conspiracy to deprive rights). Plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief; compensatory and punitive damages, including damages for pain and suffering; and attorney's fees.
The case was assigned to Judge Dabney L. Friedrich. On June 9, 2020, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint that sought class certification, added an individual plaintiff, and added Michael Carvajal (Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons) as a defendant. The plaintiffs brought the action on behalf of themselves and two classes of an individuals: 1) an injunctive relief class and 2) a personal injury class.
A second amended complaint was filed two months later. This amended complaint added two individual plaintiffs. It also removed General James McConville, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, as a defendant and added the Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia and unnamed Metropolitan Police Department officers. It also added First and Fourth Amendments claims under 42 U.S.C. 1983.
On August 19th, 2020, Judge Friedrich ordered the parties in this case and
Buchanan v. Trump to propose a consolidated briefing schedule or to explain why briefing should not be consolidated given the similar factual and legal questions in each case. The following day, the plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification.
The plaintiffs filed a third amended complaint on September 3rd, identifying a number of individual law enforcement officers as defendants. In the following months, the defendants filed a number of motions to dismiss. On June 21, 2021, the court granted in part and denied in part these motions to dismiss. All of the claims were dismissed except for a First Amendment claim against federal defendants seeking an injunction against restricted access to Lafayette Park, and First Amendment claims based on restriction of speech and retaliation against individual defendants seeking damages
The court granted a stay on July 14, 2021 to allow the parties to engage in settlement talks. The case remains ongoing.
Jack Hibbard - 08/04/2020
Rachel Harrington - 04/21/2021
Justin Hill - 09/02/2021
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