Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Jason Kessler Stops Seeking Permit To Hold Charlottesville Anniversary Rally

Jason Kessler is no longer seeking a permit to hold a Unite the Right anniversary rally in Charlottesville on Aug. 11 and 12, CBS19 News reported.

In federal court on Tuesday, he withdrew his motion to overturn the city’s denial of his permit.

Kessler, who planned last year’s rally, arrived to the hearing nearly 45 minutes late, the station reported. At one point, the judge ordered a recess so Kessler’s attorneys could go find him.

When Kessler eventually arrived, he informed the judge that he was withdrawing his motion, and the judge dismissed the case.

Kessler has not given any details about whether he still plans to hold an event in Charlottesville the weekend of Aug. 12 — which marks a year since the violent rally that resulted in the death of a counter-protestor.

He had been given initial approval to hold an Aug. 12 “Unite the Right 2” rally at Lafayette Square across from the White House. However, according to CBS19, the permit application is still being considered by the National Park Service.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.