A Judge Has Ruled that Protesters Can Use a Flag That Says 8647 on It

Just weeks after former FBI director James Comey was indicted for posting a photo that included the phrase "86 47," a judge has ruled that that phrase is not really that harmful.

The ruling, which was related to a flag progressive protesters were flying in D.C., seems to suggest that the phrase is not the threat that the Department of Justice claimed it was.

"86 47" combines two numbers. "86" is a phrase commonly used in the world of restaurants that describes taking something off the menu, while 47 refers to President Trump, who is the 47th president of the United States.

Here's what we know about the judge's ruling.

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss wrote that it is "difficult to fathom ... that a reasonable observer would view the flag as a true threat."

The ruling stems from a dispute between the progressive group Accountability NOW USA, which is protesting in Washington, D.C. has part of an effort to "call attention to the rise of fascism in the United States and demand the impeachment of President Trump."

The Secret Service opened an investigation into the group after a member displayed an "86 47" flag, even though the group has sworn that they are not calling for violence against the president.

"I never heard of it standing for anything other than Trump shouldn't be in office," a volunteer told Secret Service agents, according to court filings. "I want Trump to live forever and rot in jail where he belongs."

Moss apparently agreed with the volunteer.

"Although the Court recognizes the importance and difficulty of the mission of the Secret Service, the First Amendment does not permit the government to censor political speech, which no reasonable observer would view, in context, as actually conveying a threat of violence, merely because the speaker uses a phrase that, in addition to other more common meanings, has been used to refer to an act of violence," he wrote.

Moss's ruling ultimately comes down to what you believe the flag means and whether it constitutes a threat to the president's life. The judge clearly believes that the phrase simply means "get rid of," and even consulted Merriam-Webster's dictionary in order to prove that the protesters did not use the phrase to mean "kill."

Moss also argued that the context the flag was being used in, outside of a courthouse as part of calls to impeach the president, makes the notion that the flag is about violence unlikely.

"In short, the record contains compelling evidence supporting Plaintiff's contention that it displayed the flag merely to urge President Trump's removal from office but contains no evidence supporting Defendants' contention that the flag represented a true threat on the life or physical well-being of the President of the United States," he wrote. Whether this will harm the DOJ's case against Comey remains to be seen, but it seems like it could.