Pallone Demands Speaker Johnson Follow the Law to Honor New Jersey State Police & All Law Enforcement Who Protected the Capitol on January 6
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) today condemned Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to follow the law requiring display of a memorial plaque honoring law enforcement personnel who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Democratic Members of the New Jersey delegation placed replicas of the memorial plaque outside their offices to protest the Speaker’s willful disregard of the law and called on their New Jersey Republican colleagues to force the Speaker’s hand.
The official plaque – which is produced and ready to be placed – specifically names the New Jersey State Police alongside the U.S. Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police Department of D.C. and others. Pallone again denounced former President Trump’s mass pardons of more than 1,500 individuals convicted for their violent roles in the attack, including the man who assaulted New Jersey native Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who later died following the attack.
"The New Jersey’s Democratic delegation has taken action to honor the officers who defended our democracy and to condemn the disturbing wave of pardons that have let violent offenders walk free," said Pallone. "Officer Brian Sicknick, who grew up in Middlesex County, died after being attacked while defending this institution. The refusal to hang this plaque as required by law, combined with the pardons of his assailants, is a stunning insult to his sacrifice and to law enforcement officers everywhere."
Photo of replica plaque hanging outside every member of NJ Democratic Member office
Despite overwhelming bipartisan votes in both the House and Senate and a law signed by President Biden in March 2022, Speaker Johnson continues to defy the law and block the installation of the plaque on the western front of the Capitol as mandated. The plaque honors the hundreds of officers who risked their lives, with more than 140 suffering serious injuries during the insurrection.
At the same time, former President Trump’s mass pardons including the release of Julian Khater, who assaulted Officer Sicknick with chemical spray have drawn bipartisan condemnation from national law enforcement groups, including the Fraternal Order of Police.
Trump’s $5 million settlement paid earlier this year to the family of a woman who breached a secure area of the Capitol only underscores the moral double standard at play, as the perpetrators of violence against law enforcement are released while their victims’ families continue to wait for accountability.
"Republicans’ hypocrisy is staggering," Pallone added. "The same party that claims to 'back the blue' is now blocking a simple plaque that honors officers' heroism while granting pardons to the very people who beat, assaulted, and hospitalized those officers that day. You cannot call yourself the party of law and order when you are the one letting the criminals off the hook."
Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman, Mikie Sherrill, Josh Gottheimer, Donald Norcross, Herb Conaway, LaMonica McIver, Rob Menendez, and Nellie Pou all have placed replicas of the plaque in front of their offices.