Thousands of Donald Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol building following a “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump’s pardon of nearly all the rioters in the U.S. Capitol break-in on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,500 of them, should resonate with people in Oregon.
This month, the federal government settled a lawsuit claiming that the Trump administration used excessive force against protestors and others who attacked the federal courthouse in Portland in the summer of 2020.
Those two cases differ but they indicate how the federal government and Oregon authorities are likely to respond to political violence in the coming years. Not everyone pardoned by Trump was accused of violence, but many were and several from Oregon had already been sentenced. Now their criminal records are swept clean.
The Portland resolution was less noted. It involved the end of a key lawsuit that stemmed from federal involvement in the Portland street riots of the summer of 2020.
The 2020 protests were triggered by the May 25 killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, and Portland was just one of the cities nationwide where protests took place.
Most people were peaceful, even in Portland, but violence marred their message. The city experienced ongoing looting, vandalism and arson. People were injured. At least one person was killed in a battle between people on opposing sides of the racial justice debate. It followed a tense day when Trump backers caravanned through the city while Black Lives Matter supporters held a rally.
There’s no one reason that tensions raged so high and the protests lasted so long in Portland — well into fall. But one reason was likely this: In July 2020, Trump ordered federal law enforcement officials to crack down in Portland. At least 775 from the Department of Homeland Security, using unmarked vehicles and often wearing military-style camouflage, responded to the protests.
Trump said they grabbed people and jailed the leaders, who he said were “anarchists.”
What followed became highly controversial, leading to complaints from a number of Oregon elected officials. The Portland City Council chose to end cooperation between local police and federal law enforcement, citing “an unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power” by federal agencies. In a followup report the next year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security admitted its operations had been deeply flawed.
Civil lawsuits followed, including several from the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU cited “military-style violence” in which many people, including medics and journalists, were subjected not only to tear gas but also to pepper balls and impact munitions usually reserved for wartime use.
Oregon ACLU client Maureen Healy remarked that, “The history of the past century shows us that authoritarian governments follow patterns. One of these is to dress their troops in unmarked, unidentifiable uniforms and set them loose to commit violence against everyday people. The goal is to instill fear in the public and to stop those committed to democracy from working together to oppose the government’s intimidation.”
Last week, the first of the Portland lawsuits was settled, providing for compensation from the federal government for injuries to Portlanders. Other legal cases are ongoing.
The timing of the settlement came a day after Trump returned to office. Some Oregonians will be closely watching progress in the other cases. They may get the message that fighting back against law enforcement overreach will be slow and the results limited.
The lightning-fast pardons of the Jan. 6 rioters, coming without any vetting of individuals and including many who committed violent acts, was a sharp contrast. More significant are the responses from many of the participants. While a few convicted of crimes renounced their pardons, many may feel more emboldened to go further next time.
One of the renouncers, Jason Riddle of New Hampshire, remarked, “If I was one of the people who crossed the line into assaulting police officers that day, I’d probably believe I can get away with anything I want now.”
That may have applied in 2020 to federal officers but it also now apparently applies to people outside the federal government who believe they’re carrying out the president’s will.
What Portland experienced in the summer of 2020 could foreshadow what many communities might experience in the years ahead when violent people feel they have reason to think the federal government will have their backs, whatever they do.
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