Secret Service's Effort To Ban Speech 86-ed In Comey Preview
Try that in a real court.
The James Comey seashells case is probably on ice for much of the summer. But we got a sneak preview this week when a federal judge in DC confronted another “8647” case which the government wants to treat like an actual threat to kill the president.
Spoiler Alert: FALL DOWN GO BOOM.
Rudeness is not illegal
The case is captioned Accountability NOW USA v. Griess, and it involves a group of protesters who have held vigil in front of the federal courthouse in DC since December 2025. Around the clock, they stand in front of a statue of Gen. George Meade, who defeated Gen. Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg, patriotically calling Trump a traitor and a pedophile and demanding his removal.
In February, they added signs saying “Trump Raped Little Girls” and “Kids, If Your Parents Are MAGA, They Love Child Rapists” — a reference to the Epstein files. The group has a valid permit from the National Park Service, which they are understandably leery of losing.
In April, NPS Superintendent Kevin Griess sent them an email announcing that the signs had been “evaluated under all appropriate standards and tests and is deemed unprotected obscenity, which the Court has established is not protected by the First Amendment.” (What? No, they aren’t.)
He explicitly threatened to revoke the group’s permit: “If a permittee chooses not to comply with a lawful direction to cease prohibited conduct, the National Park Service may take further steps as appropriate to ensure compliance.”
On April 23, the group sued seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to protect their First Amendment right to protest. But just five days later, the former FBI Director got indicted for an Instagram post of seashells arranged to say “8647,” and Accountability NOW added new signage.
Almost immediately, the group started getting harassed by the Secret Service.
On May 12, two agents approached a volunteer to ask if she bore any ill will toward the president.
“I want Trump to live forever,” she said, “and rot in jail where he belongs.”
