Permit and court cases
Kessler, the organizer of the "Unite the Right" rally, applied for a permit from the City of Charlottesville to hold the event at Emancipation Park. The week before the event, the Charlottesville government—including Mayor Michael Signer, city council, City Manager Maurice Jones, and Police Chief Al Thomas— said they would approve the permit only if the event was moved to the larger McIntire Park. The city's leaders cited safety concerns and logistical issues associated with holding the event at Emancipation Park, adjacent to the densely populated Downtown Mall. Kessler refused to agree to relocate the rally, and the City relocated the rally anyway, a decision praised by the Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville.
Kessler, supported by the Rutherford Institute and ACLU, sued the City of Charlottesville and Jones on First Amendment grounds in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. On the evening of August 11, the night before the rally, Judge Glen E. Conrad granted an emergency injunction declaring the Unite the Right rally could go forward. Conrad granted the injunction for the rally due to several factors; Emancipation Park was the location for the statue of Robert Lee that was planned to be taken down and that the rally was partially for, that resources would be needed at both parks for both the rally and the counterprotestors, and that the move to McIntire Park was due to the viewpoints of the organizer and not the safety of the public