Police Officers Sue to Force Memorial for Jan. 6 Defenders of the Capitol

WASHINGTON — Two police officers who tried to hold back rioters during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking a court order requiring that a plaque be hung in the Capitol honoring police who protected lawmakers and their staff.

The lawsuit cites a 2022 law approved by Congress requiring that the plaque be installed no later than March 2023.

The plaque is completed but it has been held in storage for more than a year amid resistance from Republicans.

The lawsuit blames House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for the delay. He has declined to answer media inquiries about why he is blocking installation of the plaque.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., calls the Architect of the Capitol’s noncompliance with the planned plaque installation on the west front of the Capitol a violation of the law by refusing to carry out the will of Congress. It also says the refusal violates the constitutional rights to equal protection of police officers who tried to stop the mob.

More than 100 of them were injured during the riot.

The lawsuit is filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., by Harry Dunn, a former U.S. Capitol police officer, and Daniel Hodges, a Metropolitan Police Department officer.

Dunn protected injured officers during the riot. Hodges said he was kicked in the chest and that someone tried to gouge out his eyes.

Any modifications to the Capitol are supposed to be carried out by the Architect of the Capitol, who follows directions from the speaker of the House.

Architect of the Capitol Thomas Austin told a House subcommittee in April that he had not received authorization from the speaker for any modifications.

“We have not received final instructions to install the plaque,” Austin said.

The lawsuit appears to revive the divisiveness of President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rhetoric. He accused Democrats of voter fraud to help Joe Biden win the presidency in 2020.

During a Jan. 6 rally weeks after the election, he urged his supporters to march to the Capitol as Congress met to certify the victory for Biden.

More than 1,500 rioters were arrested. Some of the arrests resulted in years-long prison sentences.

Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of all of them as he started his second presidential term. Even some of his fellow Republicans criticized the pardons.

“Pardoning the people who went into the Capitol and beat up a police officer violently, I think was a mistake,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said.

The officers’ lawsuit says partisan politics explains why police who protected the Capitol are not being honored.

“After the law was passed, the politics around Jan. 6, 2021, changed, and many politicians who once spoke plainly about the dangers of that day began to rewrite its history, and minimize the terror of the attack,” the lawsuit says. “Four years since Congress passed the law, and three years since the deadline for its installation has lapsed, the memorial has not been put up.”

Dunn says he felt a need to increase security at his home because of hatred directed at him. His lawsuit says he finds it “impossible” to continue protecting members of Congress “whose lives he helped save but who, in part, now refuse to recognize his service.”

Hodges claims to suffer from depression and anxiety.

“By refusing to follow the law and honor officers as it is required to do, Congress encourages this rewriting of history,” their lawsuit says. “It suggests that the officers are not worthy of being recognized, because Congress refuses to recognize them.”

The lawsuit is filed as Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges v. Architect of the Capitol in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:25-cv-01844.

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