Phillips v. District of Columbia, D.D.C. 21-cv-835 (2022)

Press links: Major media outlets reported on Gerstein Harrow’s important lawsuit contending that D.C. police have a “watchlist” of critics that special treatment when requesting information. Partner Charlie Gerstein appears on WUSA9 here. More here at the Washington Post, here at WAMU, and here at DCist. As reported here at Reuters and here at NBC Washington, Mayor Bowser and the Police responded to the allegations.

On March 24, 2022, Charlie Gerstein published a Washington Post Op-Ed about the case here.

Update: Phillips and Gerstein Harrow defeat D.C.’s attempt to dismiss the case. See here.

We represent Amy Phillips, a criminal-defence attorney and advocate for police accountability and transparency, who filed a lawsuit in federal court against the District of Columbia alleging that the Metropolitan Police Department maintains a watchlist of advocates and reporters whose requests for public information are delayed or denied because they may be critical of the government. MPD’s watchlist, Phillips alleges, is a flagrant violation of the First Amendment.    

The suit alleges, based on the reports of a high-ranking whistleblower from within MPD, that the department has improperly delayed or denied requests from reporters for WUSA-9 and FOX-5, from ANC Commissioners critical of the police, from the ACLU, and from other nonprofit organizations, on at least 20 occasions over two years. Phillips alleges that she is on the watchlist because she requested information regarding police misconduct and because she herself is a vocal critic of MPD.    

The watchlist policy, according to the whistleblower described in the lawsuit, arose because former Chief of Police Peter Newsham wanted to avoid being “blindsided” by criticism in the press and wanted to protect the department from embarrassment in public. Newsham, the suit alleges, was personally involved in deciding to withhold potentially damaging information from the public. The suit alleges that current Chief of Police Robert Contee has continued the practice of discriminating against members of the public based on their protected speech.

Key documents:

See also the full press release here.