Police officers seeking court order to hang Jan. 6 plaque at Capitol
Two police officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack filed a federal civil lawsuit, asking a judge to order the hanging of a plaque to honor police heroes who protected the Capitol, lawmakers and staff from rioters.
The lawsuit cites a 2022 law signed by President Biden that required the honorary plaque be hung by March 2023. The plaque has been completed and in storage since at least last year, but GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson has not committed to installing it at the Capitol.
The dispute over the plaque has angered victims and inflamed a politically divisive issue on Capitol Hill. Republican leaders, who control the administration of the Capitol complex, have not honored requests by some officers and Democratic colleagues to hang the plaque, as required under federal law.
In their lawsuit, former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges argue President Trump has spun conspiracy theories about Jan. 6, that have been adopted by his Republican allies in Congress.
"After Congress passed the law, the politics of January 6 began to change. Donald Trump began to call the attack on the Capitol a 'day of love,' and said that 'the cops should be charged and the protesters should be freed," the lawsuit said. "As Trump's political fortunes rebounded, elected officials began to parrot his claims about the day."
The lawsuit argues the failure to hang the plaque violates the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution. It also contends the Aarchitect of the Capitol, who helps manage the facilities and grounds of the Capitol, has failed to complete a required duty under the 2022 law.
"There seems to be no indication that congressional leadership is going to install this without judicial intervention," said attorney Brendan Ballou, who has helped with crafting the lawsuit.. Ballou, a former Justice Department prosecutor who handled Jan. 6 criminal cases and resigned from the agency earlier this year, also told CBS News, "Congress was required by law to install this plaque to honor the officers that defended the Capitol and those inside on Jan. 6. They have not done so, and they have not done so two years past the legal deadline."
In the civil lawsuit, the officers argue, "While Congress has installed a memorial to other officers who died in a different tragedy, it has not installed the plaque to honor those who defended the Capitol on January 6. Meanwhile, though Congress has not installed the memorial to the officers who defended it, members have managed to honor the man who inspired the violence."
"Since President Trump's inauguration, bills have been introduced to make his birthday a federal holiday, to rename Dulles International Airport after him, to put his face on the $100 bill (or to create a new $250 bill in his honor), and to carve his face into Mount Rushmore," the lawsuit said.
It's been filed in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, where more than 1,500 Capitol riot criminal cases were filed. A judge has not yet been assigned, from among the nearly two dozen federal judges on the D.C. federal court.
For now, the plaque remains in storage on the Capitol grounds, according to multiple sources who spoke with CBS News. The delay in hanging the plaque has fueled broader disputes and anger over Trump's controversial pardons of more than 1,500 Capitol riot defendants, and the lack of statements by Republican House members commemorating the four-year mark of the assault on the Capitol in January.
In a statement during a service honoring police in May, Rep. Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat, said the plaque "is still sitting in storage because Republican leadership refuses to act. Until they condemn these pardons and honor these officers, their hollow words of support for law enforcement are meaningless."
Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat who is the ranking member on the Committee on House Administration, has pushed unsuccessfully to get the the plaque installed.
A spokesperson for the Johnson did not immediately return requests for comment from CBS News. Johnson has been previously pressed by reporters and colleagues about the delay in hanging the plaque, but has remained silent on a timeline for hanging the honorary marker.
Scott MacFarlane is CBS News' Justice correspondent. He has covered Washington for two decades, earning 20 Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards. His reporting has resulted directly in the passage of five new laws.
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