{"id":75645,"date":"2026-07-02T12:56:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T17:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/02\/obama-judge-hands-progressives-a-win-over-anti-trump-86-47-message-amid-rising-threats\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T12:56:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T17:56:24","slug":"obama-judge-hands-progressives-a-win-over-anti-trump-86-47-message-amid-rising-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/02\/obama-judge-hands-progressives-a-win-over-anti-trump-86-47-message-amid-rising-threats\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama judge hands progressives a win over anti-Trump &#8217;86 47&#8242; message amid rising threats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/person\/barack-obama\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Obama<\/a>-appointed federal judge has issued a final ruling allowing an anti-Trump &#8220;86 47&#8221; flag to be flown, delivering a win to a progressive activist group as the National Mall remains a hot zone for vandalism and threats against President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Progressive group Accountability Now USA flew the flag near the National Mall, and alleged that the National Park Service (NPS) violated their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/personal-freedoms\/first-amendment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">First Amendment<\/a> rights by threatening to revoke their permit. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in Washington, D.C., ruled on Monday that the flag is protected political speech.<\/p>\n<p>The administration has previously interpreted the number &#8220;86&#8221; as a <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/politics\/james-comey-86-47-seashell-case-prosecutor-suddenly-steps-down-assistant-us-attorney-steps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">political threat<\/a>, pointing to its common use in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/food-drink\/food\/restaurants\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">restaurant industry<\/a> to mean removing or refusing service, while 47 appears to refer to Trump as the 47th U.S. president.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This opinion is from an Obama-appointed judge. Flying a flag that is a threat to the Office of the President of the United States should not be permitted under any administration,&#8221; a Department of Interior spokesperson told Fox News Digital. &#8220;In what world have we lost all decency to demand that any threat against the President be taken very seriously?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/politics\/obama-judge-clears-left-wing-group-fly-ominous-flag-aimed-trump-his-own-turf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>OBAMA JUDGE CLEARS LEFT-WING GROUP TO FLY OMINOUS FLAG AIMED AT TRUMP ON HIS OWN TURF<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[Its] &#8216;8647&#8217; flag&#8230; is not a true threat to the President or incitement of violence,&#8221; Moss said in his ruling.<\/p>\n<p>The group also displayed two flags accusing <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/category\/person\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">President Trump<\/a> of sexually assaulting a minor. Moss ruled that those displays are &#8220;not legally obscene&#8221; and therefore remain protected by the First Amendment.<\/p>\n<p>Moss was appointed to the federal bench by former President Barack Obama after previously serving in former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/person\/bill-clinton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bill Clinton<\/a> \u2019s Justice Department. He has also contributed to and volunteered for Democratic candidates and causes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/politics\/obama-judge-clears-left-wing-group-fly-ominous-flag-aimed-trump-his-own-turf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>OBAMA JUDGE CLEARS LEFT-WING GROUP TO FLY OMINOUS FLAG AIMED AT TRUMP ON HIS OWN TURF<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The judge noted in a previous order on the case that &#8220;a true threat to the life or safety of the President would undoubtedly outweigh the interest of the public or the speaker in continuing to urge that unlawful conduct.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The dispute over the nature of the messaging comes amid heightened administration scrutiny of &#8220;86 47&#8221; messages after the giant numbers appeared to be etched into the grass between the <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/category\/us\/washington-dc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Washington Monument<\/a> and the World War II memorial last month.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/us\/reflecting-pool-damage-investigation-person-sought\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>OFFICIALS ASK FOR HELP IDENTIFYING PERSON IN REFLECTING POOL DAMAGE INVESTIGATION<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Grass samples were also collected for testing and examination in the area by investigators.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/politics\/obama-judge-rules-effort-block-america-250-events-wh-lincoln-memorial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">America\u2019s 250th birthday<\/a> brings major events to the nation\u2019s capital as D.C. braces for massive crowds, tight security, road closures and heightened <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/executive\/law\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">law enforcement<\/a> presence.<\/p>\n<p>Trump will attend the &#8220;Salute to America&#8221; event on July 4th. His remarks are expected to begin around 9 p.m. ET, prior to a massive fireworks display on the National Mall that has been touted by the administration as the largest in history.<\/p>\n<p>In April, there was an assassination attempt against Trump at the <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/executive\/white-house\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">White House Correspondents&#8217; Association Dinner<\/a>, where a shooter attempted to break into the ballroom. The fallout from the latest attempt comes as the anniversary of the Butler, Pa., rally approaches on July 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A bullet came close to ending Trump&#8217;s life <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/us\/two-men-shot-trumps-butler-rally-sue-federal-government-secret-service-preventable-failures\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">that day in 2024<\/a> after it grazed his ear. And just two months later, another attempt on his life occurred when a man with a rifle was arrested in Southern Florida after he stuck a rifle through the bushes where Trump was golfing that day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the National Mall has garnered special attention this year following a string of vandalism against the <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/media\/white-house-blasts-washington-posts-claim-reflecting-pool-looks-almost-same-after-trump-renovations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reflecting Pool and monuments<\/a>. The pattern emerged after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/person\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trump<\/a> ordered a <a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.com\/politics\/first-fox-trump-admin-transforms-dc-hotspot-once-rocked-george-floyd-protests-symbolic-reversal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">restoration and repainting<\/a> of the reflecting pool, which was then met with &#8220;razor-blade cuts&#8221; to its lining, according to the White House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Obama-appointed federal judge has issued a final ruling allowing an anti-Trump &#8220;86 47&#8221; flag to be flown, delivering a win to a progressive activist group as the National Mall remains a hot zone for vandalism and threats against President Donald Trump. Progressive group Accountability Now USA flew the flag near the National Mall, and &#8230; <a title=\"Obama judge hands progressives a win over anti-Trump &#8217;86 47&#8242; message amid rising threats\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/02\/obama-judge-hands-progressives-a-win-over-anti-trump-86-47-message-amid-rising-threats\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Obama judge hands progressives a win over anti-Trump &#8217;86 47&#8242; message amid rising threats\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}