Two police officers who defended the US Capitol building during the January 6, 2021, attack by a pro-Donald Trump mob are suing to have a congressional memorial installed to honor law enforcement caught in the attack.
Three years ago, Congress approved installing a plaque with the names of officers who confronted the mob on the Capitol grounds. The memorial hasn’t yet been installed, though the plaque exists and would need direction from House Speaker Mike Johnson to be hung.
The new case, filed in federal court in Washington, DC, on Thursday against the Architect of the Capitol, is one among a line of lawsuits and other court proceedings on behalf of officers injured in the Capitol attack, as President Donald Trump and other Republicans seek to downplay the public perception of the widespread violence toward police that day.
The case is now likely to thrust the federal courts into an issue that has become a political divide between Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The officers, Harry Dunn, formerly of the US Capitol Police, and DC Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges say they are taking the issue to court “to compel Congress to follow its own law and install the mandated memorial, to honor the women and men who saved the lives of those inside the building, and to ensure that the history of this attack on the Capitol — and on democracy – is not forgotten,” their lawsuit says.
“Though Congress has not placed the memorial to the officers who protected it, members have managed to honor the man who inspired the violence,” they write about Trump.
The law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden for the memorial said the Architect of the Capitol should place a plaque on the western front of the Capitol listing names of officers “who responded to the violence” on January 6.
Asked last month why the plaque has not been put up, Johnson told CNN, “I honestly don’t know. Not on my radar right now.”
CNN has reached out to the Architect of the Capitol for comment.