Overview
- U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss issued a temporary two-week restraining order Monday that stops the National Park Service from revoking Accountability Now USA’s permit or seizing the group’s '86/8647' flag while the lawsuit proceeds.
- Moss found the record does not support reading the flag as a true threat to President Trump and stressed that context matters when deciding if speech is violent or protected.
- The opinion cited historical and dictionary evidence showing '86' more commonly means to remove or eject rather than to kill, and noted the flag lacked violent symbols or threatening conduct when displayed as part of an impeachment-focused protest.
- Court filings describe repeated Secret Service and Park Police interactions with protesters, including a recorded May 12 exchange and agents reading Miranda warnings, and the Secret Service told the court it has investigated more than 1,300 incidents involving the phrase.
- The civil ruling does not control the separate criminal prosecution of James Comey in North Carolina, but judges and lawyers say Moss’s focus on context and intent could strengthen defenses in cases that turn on whether similar speech amounts to a prosecutable threat.