D.C. Eases Poster Regulations Ahead of ANSWER Trial

The District has issued revised regulations that increase the amount of time groups promoting events like anti-war protests may place posters around the city, the Examiner reports today. Previously, event-specific posters could only be up for a total of 60 days, but under the new rules, posters may go up anytime before the event, even a year or more ahead of time, with the only limitation being that they must come down 30 days after the event has taken place. The rules also allow for non-event related posters to be displayed for a total of 60 days, according to the Examiner.

All of these changes have been made just a week before oral arguments are set to begin in a lawsuit filed by the ANSWER Coalition and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. You'll recall that both groups were fined thousands of dollars in 2007 for placing posters around the city in advance of an anti-war march that year, leading to accusations that the city was inhibiting free speech. The Examiner notes that DDOT acknowledges that these revised rules were issued "to help expedite mitigation of any constitutional concerns" raised in ANSWER's lawsuit.