They?ve been called drug dealers and corrupt police officers. But Wednesday, two members of the Baltimore Police Department?s former Southwestern District “Flex Squad” argued in Maryland?s highest court that those allegations are all just a pack of lies.

“We invited the city to put up or shut up,” Clarke Ahlers, the attorney for police officers Sgt. Robert L.D. Smith and Vicki Lynn Mengel, told the judges on the Maryland Court of Appeals. “We sued for defamation. … What?s incredible to me about this is: They don?t deny the facts of this. They basically say, ?We?re allowed to lie.? ”