The Trump administration is proposing new regulations that would to restrict protests along the Pennsylvania Avenue sidewalk in front of the White House as well as on the National Mall. The public comment period to provide input on this proposal ends Monday, October 15.

The proposed regulations are available for review and comment here:

https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=NPS-2018-0007-0001

As written, the new regulations would grant the National Park Service broad powers to issue or deny event permits and well as charging fees to organizers. If enacted they would replace the current rules that have been established via decades of free speech lawsuits and court rulings.

New regulations include:

  • Closing 20 feet of the 25-foot-wide White House sidewalk, limiting demonstrators to a 5-foot-wide section for “pedestrian access” along Pennsylvania Avenue.
  • Charging demonstrators for “material and supply costs such as barricades and fencing,” “sanitation and trash removal” and “harm to turf.”
  • Require a permit for the erection of structures during a special event or demonstration regardless of the number of participants