This lawsuit was brought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on June 11, 2020. The suit was in response to President Trump's June 1, 2020, decision to use chemical weapons against peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square Park, protesting the police killing of George Floyd. In order to clear the path for President Trump to walk to St. John's Church, the military and military police used tear gas, pepper balls, pepper spray, and other weapons to disperse the peaceful protesters.

Plaintiffs were three protesters in Lafayette Square on June 1st, 2020. They were represented by attorneys from Gibson and Dunn. Defendants were President Trump, Attorney General Barr, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and various other leaders of federal agencies allegedly involved in the attack.

Plaintiffs argued that the President's actions constituted a violation of the First Amendment in that it was retaliation for expressive conduct, a violation of their peaceful assembly rights, restriction to a traditional public forum, and viewpoint discrimination. They alleged that their Fourth Amendment rights were violated because the attack represented an illegal seizure. They also said their Fifth Amendment rights were violated in that the attack constituted excessive force violative of Due Process. They also included a Bivens claim and sued under the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the capabilities of the President to use the military for domestic purposes. Plaintiffs requested injunctive relief, declaratory relief, monetary damages (including punitive damages), and attorney's fees and costs. The case was assigned to Judge Dabney L. Friedrich.

On August 19 2020, Judge Friedrich ordered the parties in this case and Black Lives Matter 5280 v. City and County of Denver 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 parties agreed that briefing on the motion to dismiss should proceed on the same schedule. However, the federal defendants reserved the right to seek modification to the briefing schedule because the plaintiffs indicated that they would be seeking leave to file an amended complaint.

The plaintiffs then sought leave to file an amended complaint and the Court granted leave on September 3, 2020. In the amended complaint, the plaintiffs added several defendants, including the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Chief of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department, numerous Metropolitan Police Department officers, officials from the United States Park Police, and officers from the Arlington County Police Department. The factual allegations, causes of actions, and sought after relief remained largely the same.

Each group of defendants proceeded to file motions to dismiss the claims asserted against them. On October 1, 2020, Attorney General William Barr and Acting Chief of the Park Police Gregory Monahan moved to dismiss the claims against them in their individual capacities. The same day the US filed a motion to dismiss the claims asserted against the federal defendants in their official capacities. The Arlington County Defendants also filed a motion to dismiss on October 2, 2020. Later on, on December 2, 2020, the Metropolitan Police Department defendants also filed a motion to dismiss.

The case is ongoing as of January 2, 2021 with all the motions to dismiss still pending.

Jack Hibbard - 07/20/2020
Emily Kempa - 01/02/2021


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