VICTORY! The Ellipse is being made available to the Women's March on January 21st

[ehrnst]

Faced with imminent litigation, National Park Service is releasing permits for Ellipse and other Inaugural protest spaces

NPS releases the Ellipse next to White House on January 21st for permitted assembly, made available to the Women's March for closing activities

ANSWER Coalition issued January 20th Inauguration Day Permit to hold rally with stage and sound alongside Trump's Inaugural Parade route

We are pleased to tell you and all those who have been supporting the fight to defend free speech at the Inauguration that we have prevailed in this long, hard-fought battle to secure the Ellipse and other spaces in Washington, D.C. so that they are available for mass assembly gatherings and protest on January 20th and January 21st.

The National Park Service only relented in releasing permits for protest on public space after the PCJF made clear that we would be filing for a preliminary injunction to force the release of permits.

On Jan. 5, the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund notified the National Park Service that litigation was imminent and that permits, including for the Ellipse and other locations, had to be released immediately. We advised them that their withholding of space from the required permitting process, and their giving the Trump Presidential Inaugural Committee the discretion to hold these spaces and keep demonstrators from receiving permits, was in violation of the permanent injunction obtained by the PCJF and entered against the NPS in 2008 in federal court.

After being notified of imminent litigation, the NPS and the Trump PIC reversed course and the NPS issued a statement that they would release the Ellipse and other public spaces for permitted protests.

Permits are now being issued. The Ellipse is being made available to the Women's March, which will now have the opportunity to march into the Ellipse and hold its closing activities adjacent to the Trump White House on January 21st.

http://www.justiceonline.org/faced_with_imminent_litigation_national_park_service_is_releasing_permits_for_ellipse_and_other_inaugural_protest_spaces

[angstlessk]

1. Maybe trump shouldn't have announced the firing of DC's head of the National Guard?

[Vinca]

2. I wonder if the Manbaby will flee DC rather than be embarrassed by the size of the crowd.

[politicat]

3. Good. The Ellipse is hard to kettle.

Not impossible, but difficult. And difficult to do without it being extremely obvious by Friday.