Court also certifies a class action against D.C. police in case challenging unprovoked gassing, beating of protesters calling for reform in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
Contact:
ACLU-D.C., [email protected]
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, [email protected]
Today the federal district court in Washington denied the federal government’s motion to dismiss claims against the United States over the actions of federal Park Police, Secret Service, and other agency officers who beat and gassed peaceful civil rights demonstrators at Lafayette Square on June 1, 2020. The court also certified a class action against D.C. police officers who fired tear gas at protesters as they fled.
The plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU of the District of Columbia, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, include the advocacy group Black Lives Matter D.C. and several individual protesters attacked by federal and D.C. law enforcement officers. The court held that the plaintiffs’ claims for money damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act could proceed because the plaintiffs made sufficient allegations that federal officers committed assault and battery against the demonstrators.
The court also certified the class action for damages against the D.C. police because the claims that they violated the protesters’ First Amendment rights would rise or fall for all members of the class based on the same legal principles and evidence. This ruling affirms that the MPD’s actions on June 1, 2020, impacted all affected demonstrators, making it possible for the potentially hundreds of people harmed to seek justice collectively.
“Amid the Trump Administration’s ongoing attacks on the rule of law, we applaud today’s decision affirming that civil rights demonstrators can hold officers accountable in court for the unconstitutional and brutal dispersal of their protest for racial justice,” said Scott Michelman, Legal Director, ACLU of the District of Columbia. “Our rights lose meaning without legal and financial accountability. Today’s ruling makes clear that federal officials are not above the law.”
“This ruling is a victory in holding law enforcement accountable for the violence they unleashed on peaceful demonstrators — and a reminder that the First Amendment’s promise, including the right to protest, still matters,” said Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “For years, police violence has gone unchecked. When these civil rights demonstrators took to the streets to demand better policing, they were met with the very brutality they sought to end. Today’s ruling gives us hope as we continue this litigation to vindicate our clients’ rights and pursue justice.”
“Today’s ruling is a victory for the brave individuals who stood up for their own rights and the rights of their fellow protesters following a violent attack at Lafayette Square,” said Kaitlin Banner, Deputy Legal Director at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. “It is critically important that when federal officers violate the Constitution, they can be held accountable.”
Today’s decision came in the case of Black Lives Matter D.C. v. United States, a case that plaintiffs settled in part in 2022 in exchange for significant changes to Park Police and Secret Service demonstration policing policies. The court also ruled today that a claim for damages by Black Lives Matter D.C. against the United States would be dismissed but could be refiled after an agency claims process, and the court allowed Federal Tort Claims Act claims to proceed in another lawsuit brought by other Lafayette Square protesters. A class could not be certified against the federal government because too few people had filed administrative claim forms with federal agencies.
The order in Black Lives Matter D.C. v. United States can be found here.
More information about the case is available here.