The Washington State Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that a group of current and former Seattle police officers who attended President Donald Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally on January 6, 2021, can be publicly identified.

While the officers sought a reversal of that decision from the United States Supreme Court, the Court denied their request. 

Controversy stems from investigation of officers' actions

According to Courthouse News, the U.S. Supreme Court announced on Wednesday that it would not hear arguments in the case.

The website noted that the controversy began after the Seattle Police Department launched an internal investigation of the officers, which ultimately cleared them of wrongdoing.

However, the officers sought to have their names removed from copies of the investigation report before they were made available to the public via records requests.

Although a state appeals court ruled in their favor, the Washington Supreme Court found that the officers' privacy rights would not be violated if their identities were made public.

Courthouse News noted how, in their appeal, the officers maintained that Supreme Court precedent prevents the state from compelling individuals to disclose their political stance.

Officers say case strikes "at the very core of political speech"

"These very private questions strike at the very core of political speech that the Government is now threatening to disclose publicly," their appeal read.

"Although the public is entitled to be informed concerning the workings of its government … this entitlement cannot be unlimited and inflated into general power to invade the constitutional privacy rights of individuals," it added.

A concurring statement authored by Justice Samuel Alito and joined by Justice Clarence Thomas appeared sympathetic to this rationale, acknowledging that the Washington Supreme Court paid little attention to it.

"It reasoned that the applicants had no protected right regarding the fact that they attended public events in Washington on January 6 because they failed to produce 'any evidence demonstrating they took measures to attend the [January 6] rally anonymously,'" Alito said of Washington's highest judicial body.

Alito: Officers failed to show "imminent danger of irreparable harm"

"But that reasoning ignores the fact that the officers challenge the disclosure of their responses to investigatory questions, not merely the fact of their presence in Washington, D.C.," he observed.

Nevertheless, Alito pointed out how "[t]he mandate of the Washington Supreme Court was issued more than a month ago, and the applicants have not adequately explained why at this point they still face an imminent danger of irreparable harm."

He went on to add, "Our denial of review in this case should not be taken as manifesting any degree of support for the proposition that the disclosure at issue in this case is consistent with the First Amendment."