The American Civil Liberties Union and several civil rights organizations asked a federal appeals court on Wednesday to reject total immunity for federal officers and former Attorney General William Barr on behalf of protesters who say they were tear-gassed outside the White House in summer 2020.
Demonstrators alleged officers used tear gas, pepper spray capsules, rubber bullets, and flash bombs in Lafayette Square Park in June 2020 to clear a crowd who were there to protest against racial injustice in the wake of national outrage over the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer who was later sentenced to 21 years in prison for violating the civil rights of Floyd, a black man.
The lawsuit, joined by the District of Columbia, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, and several other groups, said lower courts have shielded law enforcement and former President Donald Trump‘s Justice Department head from claims of constitutional violations “because presidential security concerns are always implicated by any federal law enforcement activity in Lafayette Square Park across the street from the White House.”
DOJ UPDATES GUIDELINES FOR RESPONDING TO PROTESTS AFTER LAFAYETTE SQUARE LAWSUITS
BREAKING: We’ve asked the federal court to reject total immunity for the former Attorney General and federal officers responsible for the 2020 Lafayette Square attack on racial justice demonstrators. pic.twitter.com/KZ34gAALAP
— ACLU of the District of Columbia (@ACLU_DC) November 23, 2022
In their appellate brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the plaintiffs argued that “the district court’s blanket rejection of constitutional enforceability is sharply inconsistent with our constitutional structure and the rule of law” because it effectively creates a “Constitution-free zone … in the heart of the Nation’s capital.”
In April, President Joe Biden‘s DOJ, under the direction of Attorney General Merrick Garland, announced new guidelines and policies limiting the use of nonlethal force on protesters, which partially settled four lawsuits by demonstrators who sued the Trump administration and federal law enforcement officials after racial justice protesters were cleared from Lafayette Park two years ago.
Kishon McDonald, a former U.S. Navy sailor plaintiff in the case, said he joined the lawsuit to “hold accountable the people involved in attacking demonstrators.”
“I should not have been attacked with tear gas and flash bangs when I was protesting for change,” McDonald added in an ACLU press release.
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The Trump administration previously pushed back against the lawsuits, claiming the Park Police gave ample warning to clear the park and denying that federal officers used tear gas. However, in June 2021, the Interior Department determined that D.C. police had used tear gas against protesters as they were leaving the area, despite federal officers being told they were not permitted to do so.
The case is Black Lives Matter D.C. v. Trump and was filed on behalf of eight protesters who claim they were attacked by law enforcement without warning during the protests over Floyd and police violence.
