The belated installation closes one chapter of a years-long standoff between officers who fought in the Capitol and Republican congressional leadership that had resisted officially memorializing the day, even as the political and legal disputes over how that day is remembered remain unresolved.
Workers installed a plaque at the U.S. Capitol overnight Saturday honoring police officers who defended the building on Jan. 6, 2021, completing an installation required by law more than two years after its legal deadline had passed.
The plaque — the first official marker of the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol — was placed on the Senate side of a hallway steps from the building’s West Front, where some of the worst fighting occurred that day. A Washington Post reporter witnessed the installation at approximately 4 a.m. EST.
The plaque reads: “On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary individuals who bravely protected and defended this symbol of democracy on January 6, 2021. Their heroism will never be forgotten.”
Three years of delays
Congress passed legislation in 2022 directing the installation, with a one-year deadline. That deadline passed without the plaque being erected. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., declined to proceed, and his office issued a statement on Jan. 5 — the night before the fifth anniversary of the attack — saying the statute authorizing the plaque was “not implementable” and that proposed alternatives “do not comply.”
The Senate acted in January when Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., passed a resolution with no objections from any other senators to place the plaque on the Senate side. Tillis, who has described hearing people break into the building on Jan. 6, addressed the officers on the Senate floor: “We owe them eternal gratitude, and this nation is stronger because of them.”
Democrats who were angry about the missing plaque had installed replicas outside their offices and called on GOP leadership to erect it or explain why it remained absent.
Officers say lawsuit will continue
Two officers who fought in the Capitol that day — Daniel Hodges of the Metropolitan Police Department and former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn — sued over the delay. Hodges said Saturday that while the overnight installation was a “fine stopgap,” it did not fully comply with the 2022 statute.
“The weight of a judicial ruling would help secure the memorial against future tampering,” Hodges said. “Our lawsuit persists.”
The compliance gap is specific: the original statute required the plaque to be placed on the West Front of the Capitol — not near it — with the names of officers listed on the plaque itself. The installation includes instead a nearby sign with a QR code linking to a 45-page document listing the names of the thousands of officers who responded that day.
The Justice Department sought dismissal of the lawsuit. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and others argued that Congress had “already has publicly recognized the service of law enforcement personnel” by approving the plaque and that displaying it would not alleviate the problems the officers said they faced from their service that day.
The lawsuit states that “both men live with psychic injuries from that day, compounded by their government’s refusal to recognize their service,” and argued that Congress was encouraging a “rewriting of history” by not following the law.
Jan. 6 in context
More than 140 officers from the Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police Department and other agencies were injured on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob forced its way past police and into the building. The crowd, which included thousands of Trump supporters gathered to oppose the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, halted that certification for several hours, drove lawmakers from the chambers and vandalized the building before police restored order.
More than 1,500 people were subsequently charged in connection with the attack, among the largest federal prosecutions in U.S. history. Trump pardoned all of them within hours of returning to office in January 2025.
Trump has called Jan. 6 a “day of love” and has sought to deflect responsibility for the events of that day. Many Republicans in Congress have downplayed the violence.
Congressional reaction
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the spending committee that oversees the legislative branch, criticized the timing of the overnight installation. “Make no mistake: they did this at 4AM so no one would see, no ceremony, no real recognition,” Espaillat posted on X. He said Capitol Police “deserve more” and that he would continue to press Johnson on the issue.
Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said he was pleased the plaque was “finally in the Capitol.”
“Whether some people like it or not, the record of that day is now part of this building,” Morelle said.