Overview
- At a Dec. 4 hearing, DOJ attorney Elizabeth Hedges said Operation Midway Blitz is not over and warned that dismissing the case with prejudice would bar similar suits by the certified class.
- U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said that view misstates the law and emphasized that a dismissal would not authorize agents to violate protesters’ or reporters’ rights.
- Ellis set Jan. 8 for class members to file objections and slated a dismissal hearing that day while the appeals court has stayed activity on the case.
- The 7th Circuit has stayed Ellis’s prior injunction and criticized it as overbroad after she limited chemical agents and required body cameras and clear identification.
- Plaintiffs moved to dismiss after appellate pushback, as depositions and body‑camera footage showed tear gas deployments, guns pointed from vehicles, and civilians tackled during the operation.