Current and former Seattle police officers asked the Supreme Court Tuesday to block a state court ruling that allows them to be identified publicly after they were investigated for attending President Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021.
Identified only as “John Does 1, 2, 4 and 5,” the officers asked the justices to halt a ruling by the Washington state Supreme Court that granted requests for public records detailing the investigations into the officers’ attendance of the rally, where Mr. Trump contested the 2020 election results.
The Seattle Police Department had probed the officers’ decisions to attend the rally after having the members self-report whether they traveled to Washington, D.C., and why.
According to the filing, the questions posed to the police officers went beyond wanting to know the officers’ whereabouts, and asked about political beliefs and motives.
The officers were found not to have engaged in unlawful conduct, and wish to keep their names from being made public.
“Longstanding authority from this Court unequivocally confirms the applicants have a First Amendment right to be anonymous in public,” their filing read. “Respectfully, the Washington State Supreme Court ignored the long line of cases finding time and time again that the First Amendment affords those who participate in protected political activity to be free from compelled disclosure of their identities.”
The case is John Does 1, 2, 4 and 5 vs. Seattle Police Department and Sam Sueoka, a citizen who has requested to bar the use of pseudonyms.
