On August 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, invalidated National Park Service regulations that require a permit before any leaflets may be distributed within any part of a national park, or before any assembly or meeting may be held anywhere within a national park.  The United States has 391 national parks.  Some are urban but most are not.  The Court left plenty of room for the government to draft new regulations that are more subtle.

The Court was most concerned about small groups, or individuals, who may want to engage in First Amendment activity in parks and not be forced to apply for a permit and wait for perhaps 10 days for the permit to be issued.  The decision does not mention petitioning but the decision’s principles obviously relate to petitioning.  Here is the 29-page decision, Boardley v U.S. Department of the Interior.  It is written by Janice Rogers Brown, a Bush, Jr. appointee, and co-signed by David Sentelle, a Reagan appointee, and Brett Kavanaugh, another Bush, Jr. appointee.  Thanks to Eric Brown’s Political Activity Law blog for the link.