National Park Service faces free speech lawsuit over anti-Trump signs

Source: USA Today

Updated April 23, 2026, 4:16 p.m. ET


The American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington, DC, chapter sued the National Park Service on April 23, alleging that the agency violated the First Amendment by threatening to revoke a protest permit over signs critical of President Donald Trump. The ACLU is representing Accountability NOW USA, a group described in the federal lawsuit as an "unincorporated association that demands accountability for the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the United States Constitution."

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Kevin Griess, the superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, are listed as defendants in the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Accountability NOW USA maintains an ongoing demonstration against the Trump administration on public property in Washington, DC. In response to an NPR report in February that the Justice Department withheld from the Epstein files certain records related to Trump and sexual misconduct, the group began displaying signs referencing the alleged actions, according to the complaint.

The park service responded by "threatening imminently to revoke Plaintiff’s demonstration permit" based on the signs, the complaint said. "As a reminder, we are approaching America's 250th and we have visitors of all ages coming to our nation's capital," an Interior Department spokesperson told USA TODAY. "This language is not protected under the First Amendment."

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/04/23/national-park-service-violated-free-speech-lawsuit-trump-signs/89741004007/