Capitol Police discrimination suit could go to trial later this year

Justin Papp, CQ-Roll Call on Jan 8, 2025

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A discrimination lawsuit filed by a Capitol Police officer against the department in 2018 might be heading to trial later this year.

On Wednesday, Judge Jia M. Cobb of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia set a mid-October trial date in the lawsuit filed by Mauricia VanMeter, who alleges that in 2017 she was dismissed from the department’s K-9 unit training program on the basis of her sex and disability, in violation of the Congressional Accountability Act.

“Officer VanMeter is gratified that Judge Cobb recognized that a jury could decide in her favor on the discrimination and retaliation claims,” Les Alderman, the attorney representing VanMeter, said following Wednesday’s status conference. “It has been a long and arduous road thus far, and we are excited to have a trial date so that we can bring USCP’s unlawful treatment to light and hear what a jury has to say about it.”

VanMeter, who is still with the Capitol Police, alleges that training supervisor Sgt. Anthony Phelps told her in the third week of a 14-week training program that he planned to fail her. VanMeter was the only woman in the class of trainees and alleges she was treated differently than her male counterparts, according to the lawsuit.

During the course of training, VanMeter notified Phelps that she suffered from anxiety and asked the sergeant not to speak to her in an “abusive manner,” according to the complaint. Phelps “derided and belittled” VanMeter after she disclosed her disability to him, the complaint alleges.

Phelps ultimately dismissed VanMeter in the 11th week of the course, even though she had passed every test and training exercise to that point, according to the complaint.

Capitol Police, through a spokesperson, did not respond to a request for comment.

The case has wound its way slowly through the courts since it was filed nearly seven years ago. According to Alderman, there were motions to dismiss that took time to resolve and discovery disputes that had to be addressed. And there was a delay when Ketanji Brown Jackson, then a federal district court judge to whom the case was originally assigned, was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2021. (Jackson was later appointed to the Supreme Court.)

The case was reassigned in 2021 to Cobb. The Capitol Police filed a summary judgment motion to dismiss the claim in December 2023, which argued VanMeter’s “ongoing performance deficiencies” were “well-documented,” providing a “legitimate business justification for removing Plaintiff from the USCP Explosive Detection Canine Training Program.”

But Cobb denied that motion in November. The judge explained her decision at Wednesday’s virtual status hearing, noting that VanMeter provided expert testimony from a service dog professional, Kyle K. Heyen, who found she performed equal to or better than her male counterparts who passed the course.

“Overall, Officer VanMeter was treated more harshly … in comparison to her male counterparts for similar performance on the same training days and exercises,” Heyen wrote in the report. Now, it’ll be up to a jury in October to decide whether VanMeter’s dismissal was justified or not.

This isn’t the only discrimination complaint leveled at the Capitol Police K-9 unit. Alderman, of the Alderman, Devorsetz & Hora law firm, also represented Juan Cobbin, a former Capitol Police sergeant who alleged he was the victim of racial discrimination and retaliation.

Cobbin, a Black man who intermittently led the K-9 training unit between 2013 and 2021, filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights in May 2021 alleging that he was removed from his position as head of K-9 training and transferred to a less prestigious, non-K-9 position. Cobbin argued the transfer had to do with his race and the fact that he complained to his supervisors and the USCP’s Office of Professional Responsibility “about allegedly racially tinged emails authored by white K-9 officers,” according to the OCWR’s decision.

In September 2023, the OCWR ruled in his favor, finding that Cobbin had superior qualifications to his white successor to lead the K-9 training program “and that the reasons proffered by the USCP for Cobbin’s transfer were pretextual,” the OCWR decision states.

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