A federal judge in Washington ruled on Monday that protesters criticizing President Trump near the Capitol could not be forced to take down a flag reading \u201c8647,\u201d finding no indication that the message could be taken as a true threat against the president\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
Judge Randolph D. Moss wrote<\/a> that despite efforts by police to compel the group, an advocacy organization called Accountability Now USA, to remove the flag and other signage over the course of several months, he concluded it was clear that the flag and its message were protected speech. The dispute in some ways mirrored the criminal case against James Comey, the former F.B.I. director, who was indicted<\/a> on a charge of making a threat against the president over a photograph posted to Instagram that depicted seashells on a beach arranged into the same numbers.<\/p>\n Beginning with Mr. Comey\u2019s indictment in April, the Trump administration has claimed that the phrase \u201c86\u201d<\/a> \u2014 common in restaurant parlance \u2014 could be interpreted as a death threat. The other number, \u201c47,\u201d is a reference to Mr. Trump, the nation\u2019s 47th president.<\/p>\n Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said in May<\/a> that others without Mr. Comey\u2019s reach and profile would not be similarly investigated for posting or displaying the phrase.<\/p>\n Turning to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Judge Moss wrote the phrase \u201c86\u201d originated in \u201c1930s soda-counter slang,\u201d meaning to \u201cthrow out,\u201d and had evolved through the twentieth century to mean \u201cto refuse to serve a customer\u201d or \u201cto get rid of.\u201d He noted that the dictionary included language that it did not endorse any definition with violent connotations \u201cdue to its relative recency and sparseness of use.\u201d<\/p>\n The activist group received a permit from the Park Service in April to set up near the George Meade Statue outside the Federal District Court in Washington, within walking distance of the Capitol and the National Mall. According to court filings, the group has maintained a 24-hour demonstration in the spot, calling for Mr. Trump\u2019s impeachment, and it intends to renew the permit when it expires in August.<\/p>\n But after it set up the encampment, the group reported several contentious encounters with law enforcement, including officials with the Secret Service and National Park Service, who insisted they take down signs, hinting they might face arrest if they did not.<\/p>\n A National Park Service official contacted the group in April, writing that signs alluding to president\u2019s ties with Jeffrey Epstein were \u201cdeemed unprotected obscenity\u201d by the agency, and needed to be removed. In particular, the National Park Service sought the removal of a sign that said Mr. Trump\u2019s supporters \u201clove child rapists,\u201d an apparent allusion to criticism over the Justice Department for missing files<\/a> in its release of documents related to Mr. Epstein\u2019s sex trafficking investigation.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump has maintained he severed ties years before Mr. Epstein\u2019s involvement in federal crimes, and has denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n The group temporarily took the sign down before filing their lawsuit. But once it put up the \u201c8647\u201d flag, in court filings members said they faced further scrutiny, including a visit by Secret Service agents asking if the flag was meant as a threat. According to filings, a volunteer with the group told the agents \u201cI want Trump to live forever and rot in jail where he belongs,\u201d after which the agents left.<\/p>\n But in May, a group of National Park Police officers arrived and demanded the flag be taken down, informing the group that flying it again would violate their permit to protest on federal land.<\/p>\n