WASHINGTON – Demonstrators with Accountability NOW USA sued federal officials today for violating their First Amendment rights after the National Park Service (NPS) threatened to take action against the demonstrators over two small signs that call attention to alleged sexual misconduct by President Trump. The lawsuit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia (ACLU-D.C.).
Accountability NOW USA is a group of volunteers that maintains an ongoing, permitted demonstration against the Trump administration on public land administered by NPS that is located on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. On March 4, 2026, after news reports about allegations concerning Donald Trump contained in the Epstein files, Accountability NOW began to display two small signs as part of its demonstration. One sign read: “TRUMP RAPED LITTLE GIRLS.” The other read: “KIDS, IF YOUR PARENTS ARE MAGA, THEY LOVE CHILD RAPISTS.” These signs have led to numerous conversations between volunteers and passersby regarding President Trump’s behavior, morality, and fitness to continue in office.
In an email sent on April 15, 2026, NPS asserted that the signs included “obscenity” that is “not protected by the First Amendment” and is “unlawful on federal land.” Officials ordered Accountability NOW USA to remove the signs and threatened further action if they did not comply. Accountability NOW USA faces a realistic threat that its demonstration permit will be revoked or its signs will be removed if it continues to display these signs.
Today’s lawsuit alleges that “there is no colorable argument that the signs are legally obscene,” and that “Political criticism of the President is not obscene simply because it references alleged sexual misconduct.” The lawsuit asks the Court to prohibit NPS from revoking Accountability NOW USA’s permit and to allow the signs to be displayed at the permitted demonstration.
“Officials are making up charges as a weapon against the First Amendment to shut down speech they don’t like,” said Anita Carey, organizer with Accountability NOW USA. “We Americans deserve our Constitutional rights, and we are prepared to defend them.”
“Just because a Trump appointee finds a message distasteful does not make it illegal,” said Laura Follansbee, staff attorney at ACLU-D.C. “The First Amendment protects everyone’s right to engage in political discussion, and government officials can’t stop speech simply because it criticizes President Trump.”
To be deemed legally obscene, a matter must satisfy all three elements of the “Miller” test, which is derived from major Supreme Court cases including Miller v. California. According to the Department of Justice, the three pillars of this test, all of which must be met, are:
- Whether the average person, applying contemporary adult community standards, finds that the matter, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interests (i.e., an erotic, lascivious, abnormal, unhealthy, degrading, shameful, or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion);
- Whether the average person, applying contemporary adult community standards, finds that the matter depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way (i.e., ultimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, masturbation, excretory functions, lewd exhibition of the genitals, or sado-masochistic sexual abuse); and
- Whether a reasonable person finds that the matter, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
Under the second Trump administration, NPS has destroyed other permitted demonstrations since August 25, 2025 when the Secretary of the Interior signed an order removing non-political NPS officials from any supervisory role over the United States Park Police. The Lafayette Park Peace Vigil, which had existed for 44 years, had its permit summarily revoked and was dismantled by Park Police officers without notice. On September 24, a gold-colored statue of President Trump and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, holding hands and appearing to be dancing with each other, titled “Best Friends Forever,” was knocked down and damaged by Park Police personnel, without notice, in the early morning darkness the day after it had been erected pursuant to a valid permit.
The complaint in today’s case, Accountability NOW USA v. Griess, may be found at: https://www.acludc.org/app/uploads/2026/04/Accountability-Now.001.Complaint.pdf
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