FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 25, 2021
Contact: Suzanne Ito, sito@acludc.org
Attorneys to Argue Qualified Immunity Cannot Protect Officials from Liability for Flagrant Violations of Protestors’ Rights
WASHINGTON – A federal judge on Friday morning will consider arguments in four lawsuits brought against former President Donald Trump, former Attorney General William Barr, and officers of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, the Arlington County Police Department, the U.S. Park Police, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Secret Service, and the D.C. National Guard for violating the constitutional rights of protestors on June 1, 2020.
That day, federal troops and local law enforcement deployed tear gas, rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, and other weapons in a coordinated attack on protesters demonstrating against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd. Following the attack, then-President Trump and administration officials walked to St. John’s Episcopal Church across the White House to pose for pictures in front of the church holding a Bible. District of Columbia police officers, stationed one block away, fired additional tear gas at the demonstrators as they fled the federal onslaught.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys will argue the government officials who ordered and carried out the brutal assault against protestors that day must be held accountable, in response to the argument by former Attorney General Barr and U.S. Park Police officers that federal officials can never be sued for damages for constitutional violations that occur during law enforcement activities near the White House. In addition, attorneys will argue against defendants’ invocation of qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that protects government officials from legal liability for actions that courts have not “clearly established” violate the law. Some members of Congress are currently pursuing an end to qualified immunity as part of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
The ACLU of the District of Columbia, Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the law firm of Arnold & Porter, sued then-President Trump and officials on June 4, 2020 on behalf of Black Lives Matter D.C. and several individual protestors. That case, now called Black Lives Matter D.C. v. Biden, will be heard with three other similar cases at Friday’s hearing.
WHAT:
Oral arguments in Black Lives Matter v. Biden (formerly Black Lives Matter v. Trump) and three other cases to address defendants’ motion to dismiss.
WHO:
Scott Michelman, Legal Director, ACLU of the District of Columbia, will argue on behalf of plaintiffs in Black Lives Matter D.C. v. Biden.
WHEN:
Friday, May 28, 10:15 a.m.
WHERE:
Media and the public can listen to the hearing via phone:
877-336-1829
Access Code: 8424583
Legal documents pertaining to this case can be found at:
https://www.acludc.org/en/cases/black-lives-matter-dc-v-trump-challenging-federal-officers-unprovoked-attack-civil-rights
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