{"id":1145,"date":"2025-12-18T18:57:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T18:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/?p=1145"},"modified":"2026-04-15T13:39:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:39:48","slug":"retired-prosecutor-arrested-while-protesting-law-firms-deal-with-trump-sues-new-york-city-and-property-owner-for-first-amendment-violation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/retired-prosecutor-arrested-while-protesting-law-firms-deal-with-trump-sues-new-york-city-and-property-owner-for-first-amendment-violation\/","title":{"rendered":"After Client Arrested While Protesting Law Firm\u2019s Deal With Trump, Clinic Sues for First Amendment Violation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Retired prosecutor David O\u2019Keefe filed a lawsuit today to vindicate his \u2014 and the public\u2019s \u2014 First Amendment rights after he was arrested while protesting outside the Midtown headquarters of a law firm that made a deal with the Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, names the City of New York, Brookfield Properties, and others as defendants. It seeks to establish important legal rights for New Yorkers in the city\u2019s many \u201cprivately owned public spaces,\u201d or POPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>O\u2019Keefe was standing in a Brookfield-owned POPS when he was arrested on April 2, 2025. He was protesting outside the headquarters of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &amp; Flom LLP. Days earlier, Skadden had reached a deal with the Trump administration in which the firm promised free legal services in support of initiatives backed by the President. O\u2019Keefe, as a career prosecutor who views the independence of lawyers and the maintenance of the rule of law as critically important, opposed Skadden\u2019s deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Skadden is headquartered in One Manhattan West, an office building owned by Brookfield that sits across Ninth Avenue from Moynihan Station. It is bordered by a POPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During his protest, O\u2019Keefe stood in the POPS and held a sign that said, \u201cHey Skadden, I found your spine in the trash lying next to your values!\u201d It described Skadden as \u201cTrump\u2019s $100 million lap dog.\u201d And to put a finer point on his message, he also held a replica human spine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This POPS is one of dozens of others in the city. Collectively, they constitute more than 3.8 million square feet of public space, the equivalent of nine Bryant Parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>POPS are created pursuant to an agreement between the property owner and the city. If the owner agrees to include a POPS on its property, the City will allow the owner to construct a larger building than the New York City Zoning Resolution would otherwise permit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These POPS are open to the public and indistinguishable from public sidewalks, plazas, or parks. They are spaces where commuters walk to work, tourists gather, shoppers stroll \u2014 and where people sometimes hold protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But New Yorkers may be surprised to learn that, according to the property owners and NYPD, they do not have First Amendment rights when they are in these vast public spaces.<br>Even though O\u2019Keefe\u2019s protest did not impede the flow of pedestrian travel, did not include sound amplification, and did not violate any rules of the POPS, a security guard working for the property owner told O\u2019Keefe to leave the POPS. O\u2019Keefe refused, prompting security to call NYPD. Officers arrived and told O\u2019Keefe he could not continue his protest in the POPS. When O\u2019Keefe declined to leave or stop his protest, the NYPD officers arrested him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"704\" height=\"872\" src=\"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picture1-sign.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1147\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picture1-sign.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/?attachment_id=1147\" class=\"wp-image-1147\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picture1-sign.jpg 704w, https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picture1-sign-242x300.jpg 242w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 704px) 100vw, 704px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>O\u2019Keefe\u2019s lawsuit seeks to make clear that the public enjoys the same First Amendment rights in POPS as in any other public space. O\u2019Keefe is represented by Michael Linhorst and Daniela del Rosario Wertheimer of the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic and civil rights lawyer Gideon Oliver, who has represented people arrested at POPS since Occupy Wall Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>O\u2019Keefe has continued to protest in the same POPS since his April arrest. He has repeatedly been instructed by security guards to leave and has each time refused. The threat of wrongful government censorship and re-arrest looms every time he ventures out to protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPOPS are public spaces. Peaceful protestors should not be silenced just because they choose to protest in one,\u201d O\u2019Keefe said. \u201cThis action attempts to hold a major New York City real estate company, Brookfield, to account for its failure to honor the deal and keep public spaces <em>public<\/em>,\u201d Wertheimer said. \u201cThough building tenants may not like what Mr. O\u2019Keefe has to say, when he says it in a POPS, he is protected by the U.S. and New York State Constitutions. No property owner, security company, or police officer has the power to shut Mr. O\u2019Keefe down for his lawful and peaceful protests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The case is <em>O\u2019Keefe v. City of New York et al.<\/em>, no. 1:25-cv-10532.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Contact<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Michael Linhorst<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cornell First Amendment Clinic<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MML89@cornell.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Retired prosecutor David O\u2019Keefe filed a lawsuit today to vindicate his \u2014 and the public\u2019s \u2014 First Amendment rights after he was arrested while protesting outside the Midtown headquarters of a law firm that made a deal with the Trump administration. The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, names the City of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1145"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1406,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions\/1406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cornell1a.law.cornell.edu\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}