Overview
- Filed in the U.S. District Court for D.C., the lawsuit seeks reinstatement, back pay, and expungement following September terminations ordered by Director Kash Patel.
- The plaintiffs claim First and Fifth Amendment violations, saying they knelt on June 4, 2020 to de‑escalate a hostile crowd after being deployed without proper crowd‑control gear.
- Patel reopened the cleared 2020 incident after his confirmation, demoted several agents, then fired them for “unprofessional conduct” and “lack of impartiality,” according to termination letters.
- The suit cites a September 27 social‑media post by Patel about Jan. 6 as evidence of a political double standard in judging agents’ crowd‑control actions.
- Two veteran plaintiffs have related appeals pending before the Merit Systems Protection Board, the FBI has not commented, and legal analysts say the case may turn on due‑process and internal‑rules claims more than pure speech issues.