A Victory for Free Speech on the Mall

As I pointed out over a year ago, the U.S. Park Service was proposing to make the National Mall and areas around the White House off limits for demonstrations. These iconic locations have provided Americans the space to demonstrate to their elected leaders what they think about their policies and behavior for decades. Free speech is one of our sacred freedoms protected in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

The proposal to ban protests at these sites came at a time when the President Trump was especially concerned about the possibility of national demonstrations against his presidency. By locking up the prime real estate upon which to
demonstrate, his administration thought they could better dissuade protesters. Instead, the public spoke up with over 140,000 comments lodged against the proposal.

I hope the Park Service and the Department of Interior where this idea originated got the message and now recognize they should be supportive of Americans exercising their First Amendment rights instead of looking for ways to stifle dissent.

Photo Credit: Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post