MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal lawsuit against members of the Memphis Safe Task Force, accusing them of engaging in a “startling pattern” of retaliation, intimidation and harassment against residents documenting law enforcement activity in Memphis.
Filed on behalf of four Memphis residents, the lawsuit alleges task force agents violated First Amendment protections by targeting individuals who observed and recorded police activity in the city. According to the complaint, residents were threatened, followed, falsely arrested and intimidated after filming task force activity in public spaces.
The lawsuit specifically challenges actions taken by the Memphis Safe Task Force, a multi-agency operation created by President Donald Trump in September 2025 to combat violent crime in the city, despite reports that crime rates in Memphis had already been declining before his presidency. The task force includes agents from numerous federal agencies, alongside Tennessee state troopers and members of the Tennessee National Guard.
According to the lawsuit, residents began documenting task force activities after witnessing what they believed to be aggressive policing methods during traffic stops and operations throughout Memphis. The complaint states that task force agents often retaliated against observers by threatening arrest, photographing their faces and license plates, and repeatedly invoking Tennessee’s “Halo Law,” which requires bystanders to remain at least 25 feet away from law enforcement officers after being told to move back.
The ACLU argues the law has been used broadly to prevent residents, journalists and activists from recording publicly visible police activity. Attorneys representing the plaintiffs stated that documenting law enforcement conduct is protected under the First Amendment and is essential for public accountability.
Scarlet Kim, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, stated, “Recording publicly visible law enforcement activity is a core First Amendment right. Like folks in Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, and elsewhere across the country, Memphis residents have picked up their phones and cameras to document the massive influx of law enforcement officers into their community. In response, the Memphis Safe Task Force has relentlessly subjected these individuals to intimidation, harassment, and retaliation.”
The lawsuit further alleges some task force agents used additional intimidation tactics, including swerving vehicles toward observers, taunting residents by name during traffic stops, surveilling them outside their homes, and attempting to block filming by shining bright lights at cameras and phones.
The lawsuit states that “task force agents are systematically retaliating against, intimidating, and harassing Plaintiffs and others lawfully engaged in these constitutionally protected information-gathering and recording activities.”
Federal officials named in the lawsuit include leaders from several agencies involved in the task force, along with state officials overseeing Tennessee law enforcement operations. The lawsuit seeks a court ruling declaring the alleged retaliation unconstitutional and barring task force members from interfering with individuals recording or gathering information about public law enforcement activity.
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice released a statement Wednesday saying the agency “will not tolerate any action that puts our law enforcement officers at risk” and that officials “strongly disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit and remain committed to fair, impartial, and professional law enforcement practices to keep Memphians and the American people safe.”
The spokesperson added that the task force has made more than 9,000 arrests, including 951 known gang members, “drastically increasing public safety in the Memphis community.”
However, the ACLU lawsuit alleges, “Even though Plaintiffs’ information gathering about and recording of Task Force agents in no way impedes, interferes with, or obstructs agents’ execution of their duties, the Halo Law unconstitutionally burdens Plaintiffs’ exercise of their First Amendment rights and undermines public oversight of the Task Force.”
ACLU attorneys also accuse Trump administration officials overseeing the task force of allowing a policy that permits the intimidation of observers not only in Tennessee but nationwide.
The lawsuit states that federal officials “expressly define gathering information about and recording immigration and law enforcement officers performing their duties in public, including Task Force agents, as threatening, criminal, and even terrorist behavior, warranting government action.”
The ACLU’s lawsuit against the Memphis Safe Task Force adds to ongoing national debates over police accountability, free speech protections and the public’s right to record law enforcement activity. Advocates argue the case could have broader implications for First Amendment protections and government transparency moving forward.
Follow the Vanguard on Social Media – X, Instagram and Facebook. Subscribe the Vanguard News letters. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org/donate or give directly through ActBlue. Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.
