Trump Administration Suffers Legal Loss Over ’86-47′ Flag in DC – Newsweek
Published
Jun 02, 2026 at 03:53 AM EDT
updated
Jun 02, 2026 at 07:44 AM EDT
Senior US News Reporter
A federal judge has ordered that the National Park Service (NPS) not prevent a protest group from flying an “86-47” flag near the National Mall in Washington, D.C., finding that it could not be seen as a call to violence against President Donald Trump’s life.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss ruled on Monday that the flag—which the group Accountability Now USA has flown outside a federal courthouse as it has been protesting for months calling for Trump’s impeachment—did not represent a call to political violence.
The decision tests the boundary between offensive political expression and unlawful threats at a time of heightened concern about political violence—and intersects with a separate federal prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey, a vocal Trump critic, over the same phrase.
The judge, who did not mention the Comey case, said that the term “86” has been “most often used to mean that an item is no longer available or that someone or something should be removed, ejected, or thrown out,” though he added that it can sometimes mean “to kill.” The term “47” refers to Trump as the country’s 47th president.
“No reasonable observer could have viewed Plaintiff’s display of the flag as a threat to the President’s life or
physical safety,” he wrote.
The judge’s ruling means the NPS are restricted from removing the flags for 14 days under a temporary restraining order.
Newsweek reached out to the White House, Secret Service and NPS by email to comment on this story outside of normal business hours.
The dispute started when, on February 24, 2026, the group displayed signs referencing reports about Trump’s relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump has consistently denied wrongdoing in connection to his relationship with Epstein.
NPS asked Accountability Now USA to remove their signs and said they were not protected under free speech laws because they were “obscene material.” The group, fearing enforcement action, temporarily removed the signs before filing the lawsuit.
The group then displayed a red, white, and blue flag that read “8647” and, on May 12, Secret Service officers approached a volunteer with the group and said she could be “at risk of criminal prosecution for displaying the flag,” according to the court filings.
On May 27, National Park Police officers asked the group to take the flag down and the group filed an amended complaint adding this incident to the ongoing lawsuit and filed for a temporary restraining order.
Writing in the order, Judge Moss, who was appointed by the President Barack Obama in 2014, said: “Although the Court recognizes the importance and difficulty of the mission of the Secret Service, the First Amendment does not permit the government to censor political speech, which no reasonable observer would view, in context, as actually conveying a threat of violence, merely because the speaker uses a phrase that, in addition to other more common meanings, has been used to refer to an act of violence.”
In his ruling, he added that there was no evidence that the group “or the volunteers who staffed the demonstration engaged in any threatening speech or conduct.”
“Under these circumstances, it is difficult to fathom how the NPS (or the Secret Service) could have concluded that a reasonable observer would view the flag as a true threat. The term ’86’ is used far more often to mean ‘throw out’ than ‘kill, and it appeared at a demonstration that was focused, of all things, on the constitutional impeachment and ‘removal’ of the President.”
“We are pleased that the court saw through the government’s baseless accusations about our 8647 flag,” Anita Carey, organizer with Accountability NOW USA, said in a statement. “We want to lawfully, peacefully, and constitutionally impeach and remove the President from office. We will now resume proudly flying our 8647 flag, and we encourage everyone who agrees with us to do the same.”
The phrase has also been at the center of a separate legal case involving former FBI Director James Comey.
In April 2026, a grand jury indicted Comey over the now deleted 2025 Instagram post showing seashells arranged to spell “86‑47.”
Prosecutors alleged the image amounted to a threat against Trump, while Comey denied any intent to incite violence and said he viewed it as a political message.
In late April, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “86′ is a mob term for ‘kill him.’ They say 86 him! 86 47 means ‘kill President Trump.’ James Comey, who is a Dirty Cop, one of the worst, knows this full well! EIGHT MILES OUT, SIX FEET DOWN! Didn’t he also lie to the FBI about this??? I think so!”
Comey faces federal felony charges that could bring a prison sentence of up to 10 years. He has denied any wrongdoing, saying he was unaware of the meaning behind the numbers and alleging that the case is politically motivated.
In late April, his attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, said the former FBI director would move to dismiss the case on grounds of selective and vindictive prosecution, arguing he was targeted for speaking out against Trump.
“Well, they’re back,” he said in the video. “This time, about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina beach a year ago. And this won’t be the end of it, but nothing has changed with me. I am still innocent. I am still not afraid. And I still believe in the independent federal judiciary. So, let’s go.”
Comey continued: “It’s really important that all of us remember—this is not who we are as a country, this is not how the Department of Justice is supposed to be, and the good news is we get closer every day to restoring those values. Keep the faith.”
The trial is expected to begin in October.
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