Want to protest Trump’s inauguration? The government may not let you
Permit for Presidential Inauguration Committee grants space along parade route for pre-screened ticket buyers and activists are suing over free speech worries
If you want to protest Donald J Trumps inauguration from in front of the president-elects luxury hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, you may have a tough time.
Thats because the US National Park Service guarantees space to a little-known organization called the Presidential Inauguration Committee,which reserves space along the inaugural parade route for a pre-screened group of ticket buyers.
Not very free speech, you say? Well, theres a group of protesters that agree with you.
For us, its a critical issue about whether the government will get to give the prime spot, the most visible locations on the inaugural [parade] route, to a private entity which is collecting donations from banks and multinational corporations, said Ben Becker, a New York City-based organizer for Answer (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism).
The PIC, run by a president-elects appointees, organizes, raises money and sells tickets. As it stands, the National Park Service has set aside three-quarters of Freedom Plaza for the PICs exclusive use, and the remaining quarter for media, meaning that none of the plaza is open to the public. Parts of Pennsylvania Avenue are also set aside for PIC exclusive use. A group of protesters sued the agency to allow protesters in these areas.
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We think its essential that the courts not simply privatize Pennsylvania Avenue, so that the street is sanitized of all dissent, said Becker.
Because tickets to the PICs bleachers are not traditionally available to the public (though Obama made some available), protesters say the government is essentially supporting one-sided political speech, that of the incoming administration.
However, US district court judge Paul L Friedman ruled in favor of the National Park Service in January. Friedman ruled the inauguration parade is essentially government speech, meaning it is irrelevant whether the speech is one sided.
The US department of justice also argued the speech could not be one-sided, because the views of the incoming administration are completely unknown until the administration is in place.
The DoJ did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian, but in filings argued that 84% of the parade route remains available for the public.
Answer is appealing that ruling, and hoping for a decision from appellate courts before 20 January 2017 inauguration day. Suing on the protesters behalf is Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, which started litigating the case in 2005, long before Trumps election.
Whats happening here is that the government is setting aside public space, traditional public fora, thats supposed to be available to the people for speech, for debate, for assembly, said Partnership for Civil Justice Fund attorney and co-founder Mara Verheyden-Hilliard. And theyre setting it aside for a private, partisan, political organization which is the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
Answers case against the National Park Service is actually the organizations second time litigating against space considerations for the PIC.
The National Park Service first attempted to set aside parts of Freedom Plaza and Pennsylvania Avenue for the PIC by accepting its permit ahead of other organizations. The park service told all public groups that it only accepted demonstration permits on a first come, first served basis, and only within 12 months of the inauguration.
But in practice the park service provided the PIC with permits in advance of a year.
Answer sued on the grounds that such preferential permitting was unconstitutional and they won but the National Park Service then wrote the PIC into its regulations, prompting further legal action.
Portions of Pennsylvania Avenue, National Historic Park and Sherman Park are designated for the exclusive use of the Presidential Inaugural Committee on Inaugural Day for: ticketed bleachers viewing and access areas, regulations say.
This time, the courts ruled against Answer.
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This is an entity that raises tens of millions of dollars around the inauguration from deep-pocketed funders and supporters and lobbyists of the incoming administration, said Verheyden-Hilliard.
People want to speak out at this critical political moment, to say they are united in opposition to racism, to bigotry, to misogyny. And the government is actually pointing to areas up and down the parade route including, significantly, Freedom Plaza, whose dedicated purpose is for freedom of assembly, and the space in front of the Trump hotel.
Members of the committee include loyal Trump fundraisers, such as Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and Los Angeles real estate investor Thomas R Barrack Jr.
The lawsuit seeks to allow protesters in front of the Trump International hotel and elsewhere along the roughly 12-block parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue.
Even if protesters win this round before inauguration day, they may face another challenge to protesting in front of the hotel: they might need Trumps permission.
The hotel, housed in a former federal mail-sorting facility, was leased to the billionaire by the US General Services Administration for his hotel. That means the plaza in front of the building (excepting the sidewalk) is now under the control of the Trump organization.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/17/trump-inauguration-protest-pennsylvania-avenue