Claim is accompanied by a historical memorandum documenting systemic political bias and Civil Rights violations
See Grok’s analysis of this story
PORTLAND, OR – On Monday (Dec. 8), counsel for journalist Nicholas Sortor formally served the city of Portland with a tort claim arising from his unlawful arrest on October 2, 2025 outside the Portland ICE facility. The claim alleges unlawful arrest, First Amendment retaliation, equal-protection violations, and municipal liability under § 1983.
The incident occurred after Sortor retrieved a burning American flag that Antifa insurrectionists had lit on fire and thrown on to ground. Within minutes of documenting the Antifa crowd, reporting from the public sidewalk, and attempting to avoid escalating threats, he was attacked by masked individuals while Portland Police officers stood by and watched. Moments later, instead of intervening to stop the mob, PPB officers turned on Sortor and arrested him without probable cause. The Multnomah County District Attorney later found that all of Sortor’s actions were lawful and expressly defensive in nature, confirming he had committed no crime.
“This wrongful arrest was not just a mistake,” said attorney Angus Lee. “It was the product of a deeply embedded culture of political discrimination in Portland law enforcement.”
Along with the tort claim, the legal team is releasing a comprehensive historical memorandum detailing Portland’s long-standing pattern and practice of political bias in law enforcement. The memorandum outlines nearly a decade of discriminatory non-enforcement toward Antifa and retaliatory enforcement against conservatives, journalists, and political dissenters. It further explains how Portland’s political leadership cultivated a climate in which police routinely ignored Antifa’s criminal conduct while targeting those who exposed or opposed it.
A copy of this memorandum has been sent to the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, which has acknowledged receipt and is reviewing the material as part of its ongoing assessment of the Portland Police Bureau. “The Department of Justice now has a full accounting of Portland’s history of selective policing,” Lee said. “They are reviewing evidence that the City has, for years, used its police force to advance political objectives rather than enforce the law evenly.”
The claim notes that this is not an isolated incident but a predictable consequence of Portland’s long-standing culture of political favoritism. “We have every reason to believe that Portland law enforcement knows exactly who many of these Antifa members are,” Lee stated. “There are strong indications that officers have been communicating with them, cooperating with them, or allowing them operational freedom that no other group would ever receive. Our investigation will dig deeply into those relationships.”
As the case proceeds, discovery will examine command-level decision making, communications between City leadership and police personnel, the failure to arrest known Antifa offenders, internal discussions about political protest management, and the City’s longstanding unwillingness to enforce criminal laws against favored political actors.
“This case is going to expose the structural bias that Portland officials have spent years denying,” Lee added. “The public will finally see how deeply this problem runs.”
Copies of the tort claim and the historical memorandum are attached to this release.
This independent analysis was created with Grok, an AI model from xAI. It is not written or edited by ClarkCountyToday.com and is provided to help readers evaluate the article’s sourcing and context.
Quick summary
Attorney Angus Lee has filed a tort claim against the city of Portland on behalf of conservative journalist Nicholas Sortor for his October 2, 2025, arrest outside the Portland ICE facility, alleging unlawful arrest, First Amendment retaliation, equal‑protection violations, and municipal liability under §1983. The claim is accompanied by a historical memorandum alleging nearly a decade of discriminatory non‑enforcement toward Antifa and retaliatory actions against conservatives, journalists, and dissenters, with a copy sent to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
What Grok notices
- Describes the sequence from Sortor’s arrest through the district attorney’s conclusion that no crime occurred, giving context for the legal theories in the tort claim.
- Quotes attorney Angus Lee on alleged patterns of unequal enforcement and retaliation, helping readers understand the broader issues he plans to raise.
- Notes that the accompanying memorandum catalogs prior protest‑related incidents, presenting the claim as part of a longer history rather than an isolated case.
- Reflects the perspective of Sortor’s legal team on Portland’s protest‑policing practices; the city’s response is not included in this account.
- Mentions that the materials were sent to the U.S. Department of Justice, signaling a possible federal‑oversight angle readers may want to follow.
Questions worth asking
- How might discovery in this tort claim shed light on internal Portland Police and city communications about protest management and media presence?
- What precedents from prior First Amendment and selective‑enforcement civil rights cases could shape the outcome of Sortor’s lawsuit?
- In what ways has past federal oversight or settlement agreements influenced reforms within the Portland Police Bureau?
- How do differing accounts of the October 2 incident affect public perceptions of police accountability and press freedom?
- What role could community input and independent review boards play in addressing allegations of selective enforcement during protests?
Research this topic more
- U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division – investigations and guidance on police practices and First Amendment rights
- Portland Police Bureau – official information on protest response policies and after‑action reports
- Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office – charging decisions, case summaries, and policy statements
- Oregon Department of Justice – state civil rights enforcement authority and legal resources
- ACLU of Oregon – analyses of protest rights, police accountability, and news‑gathering protections
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Portland has had a culture of “performative outrage” for years that has been actively promoted by City government top to bottom. Adopting DEI and electing so-called “Democratic Socialists” has only served to aggravate the situation. Vancouver is doing its very best to carry right along with them…the City is handing out whistles to use as ICE alerts. Ridiculous and inflammatory which means its dangerous.
Local print media, specifically the Oregonian and the local Associated Press outlet, the Columbian, have waged a nearly non-stop war against Conservatives and Republicans for years. We actually have American members of Congress who are defending drug running narco-terrorists who are killing Americans in droves.
The defining issue of my generation was the Vietnam War. During the 20 year American involvement in Vietnam, between 1 November 1955 through 30 April 1975, 58,220 American Servicemen were killed in action.
In just the last 20 years, since 2005, over 841,000 (and counting) American CIVILIANS have died from drug overdoses.
Where is the outrage over that?? Instead we get manufactured media events, and inflammatory rage-bait stories and letters to the editor, defending the very criminals who are helping wage chemical warfare on the American Public. Just last week there was word of a major fentanyl bust in Portland, one of the arrestees was a 16 year old who spoke no English. He told police he was selling $800 worth of fentanyl a day in downtown Portland. No word on his immigration status but its clear he is not a student in any Portland school.
ICE is doing an excellent job in my view, and are under fire from real enemies right here inside the USA. Its a shameful and disgusting performance by the far-left.
I retired from the Navy with a very good BS filter. I find it needs more frequent cleaning these days, but it still works just fine. Remain calm and carry on.