For the first time, the U.S. government wants demonstrators to pay to use our parks, sidewalks and streets to engage in free speech in the nation’s capital. This should be called for what it is: a protest tax. This is a bold effort by the Trump administration to burden and restrict access to public spaces for First Amendment activities in Washington. If enacted, it would fundamentally alter participatory democracy in America. Read more

In a follow-up to the OpEd by the PCJF, the editorial board of the Washington Post issues "a resounding no" to the Pay-to-Protest proposal by the Trump administration and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

UN human rights advocates have condemned bills introduced in 19 US states that target peaceful protest and other forms of free speech. They say that the proposed laws violate First Amendment protections as well as international human rights standards. Mara Verheyden-Hillard, a human rights attorney and co-founder of Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, joins RT America’s Simone Del Rosario to explain what’s at stake.

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and co-counsel Paul Hughes of Mayer Brown LLP and the Yale Law School Supreme Court Clinic have filed a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Partnership for Civil Justice Fund Executive Director Mara Verheyden-Hilliard appears in an NBC 4 TV report and condemns serial civil rights violator Peter Newsham, who was named new chief of D.C. Metropolitan Police.

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund is in the courtroom and in the streets protecting the ability of the people of the United States to be the political force that throws a wrench into outrageous efforts to eviscerate fundamental rights.

We talk about the right to protest with activist and attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund.

"You can't arrest people for the acts of others simply because they arguably share a political view -- that's illegal," Verheyden-Hilliard says.