The City That Commissioned a Massive BLM Mural Near the White House Arrested Pro-Lifers for Sidewalk Chalk

July 25, 2026 Cat2, The Media
John Hanson Pye via shutterstock

Six police cars showed up to arrest two people writing in chalk outside a Planned Parenthood.

The same city let BLM protesters spray-paint entire city blocks – and watched.

Now the judge who got caught abusing his own authority is the one deciding whether that's a free speech violation.

Judge Boasberg Gets Reversed Again – And Still Won't Let a Jury Decide

In the summer of 2020, Washington, D.C. became an open canvas for Black Lives Matter.

Protesters spray-painted "I can't breathe" on streets near the White House.

They tagged the Department of Justice building.

They covered entire city blocks in permanent paint.

Police watched, but nobody was arrested.

Then the Frederick Douglass Foundation and Students for Life of America showed up with washable chalk.

They wrote "Black Pre-Born Lives Matter" on a sidewalk outside Planned Parenthood.

Six police cars showed up immediately.

Two people were arrested and charged with defacement of public property.

The city that commissioned a massive BLM mural near the White House arrested pro-lifers for sidewalk chalk.

That was 2020.

The case has now been appealed to the D.C. Circuit for the second time – because Chief Judge James Boasberg has twice blocked a jury from ever hearing it.

Boasberg Told Trump His Power Was Frightening Then Did This

The D.C. Circuit sent this case back to Boasberg in 2023 with clear instructions.

Apply the correct First Amendment standard and let the evidence build a record.

The court was unambiguous: the First Amendment bars the government from picking winners and losers in public debate.

Boasberg got the case back and dismissed it again anyway.

His reasoning: the pro-life groups hadn't proven they were "similarly situated" to BLM protesters.

But the groups had spent years in discovery building exactly that case.

Assistant Chief of Police Jeffery Carroll, who ran the Metropolitan Police Department's Special Operations Division, admitted he was present at BLM protests where property was being defaced – public and private.

Lieutenant Jason Bagshaw admitted the same.

Body camera footage showed officers standing by while a protester spray-painted "I can't breathe" on the street near the White House – two weeks after pro-lifers were handcuffed for chalk.

Boasberg looked at all of it and decided a jury shouldn't see it.

That's not a legal ruling.

That's a judge substituting his own verdict for twelve citizens.

This Is the Same Judge Who Lectures Trump About Exceeding His Authority

Legal scholar Jonathan Turley has documented what he calls "Boasberg's Law" – a pattern in which the judge applies different standards depending on who is standing in front of him.

The D.C. Circuit already found Boasberg committed an "abuse of discretion" when he twice held the Trump administration in contempt over deportation flights.

The same appellate court ruled his contempt investigation had gone beyond his authority by reaching into executive branch deliberations on national security.

Now Boasberg has been reversed for exceeding his authority in this pro-life case too.

The pattern is the story.

Boasberg called President Trump's claims of expansive executive power "awfully frightening."

But a judge who ignores appellate instructions, strips juries of credible evidence, and applies heavier burdens to disfavored groups – that judge is doing something frightening too.

Here's what Boasberg actually did: he applied the legal test for a completely different kind of claim – one that requires a far higher burden of proof – and used it to kill a First Amendment case.

The appellate court caught that in 2023, sent the case back, and spelled out the correct standard.

Boasberg got the road map and took the same wrong turn anyway.

If the D.C. Circuit reverses him a third time, the question stops being whether Boasberg made a legal error and starts being whether any conservative group can expect a fair hearing in his courtroom at all.

The Pro-Life Groups Are Back at the D.C. Circuit

Alliance Defending Freedom filed the appeal last week.

Students for Life of America president Kristan Hawkins noted the obvious absurdity: in Washington, D.C., the surest way to get arrested is not violence, not vandalism, not spray paint spanning a city block.

It's chalk that washes away in the rain – if the message is pro-life.

Frederick Douglass Foundation chairman Troy Rolling put it plainly: "Equal justice means applying the law equally, not rewarding favored speech while punishing dissenting voices."

Boasberg has now twice refused to let a jury weigh that question.

The D.C. Circuit will get the case back, review his work, and almost certainly reverse him again.

The only question is how many more years pro-life Americans have to spend in federal court to get the same access to a sidewalk that BLM had for free.

Sources:

  • Jonathan Turley, "Judge Boasberg whines about Trump's power and then gets caught exceeding his own," Fox News, July 22, 2026.
  • "Boasberg's blunder? Judge usurped jury by tossing pro-life discrimination suit twice, groups say," Just the News, July 20, 2026.
  • "The Fight for Pro-Life Free Speech: ADF Files Appeal in Students for Life's 'Black Preborn Lives Matter' D.C. Sidewalk Chalking Arrests Case," Students for Life of America, July 20, 2026.
  • "Pro-life groups ask DC Circuit to uphold their free speech right to chalk message on city sidewalk," Alliance Defending Freedom, July 2026.
  • "DC selectively enforced defacement laws against BLM, pro-life group, federal appeals court rules," Fox News, August 15, 2023.
  • "Judge ordered to end contempt probe over deportation flights," Courthouse News Service, April 14, 2026.