A dozen former FBI agents this week sued President Donald Trump’s administration in part on First Amendment grounds over their firings for kneeling during protests over George Floyd’s murder in 2020.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, references nine unnamed women and three unnamed men as plaintiffs.
It alleges that the agents were fired because the administration "perceived Plaintiffs to be affiliated with, and supportive of, President Trump's partisan opponents and not affiliated with President Trump."
"That is a violation of the First Amendment," it says.
But experts told USA TODAY it's a complex case that may not ultimately hinge on First Amendment claims, considering that the complaint says the agents' actions were not meant as political statements but that they were interpreted as such by the administration.
