The Right to Assemble: Responding to Protests, Spontaneous Gatherings, and Counter-Demonstrations On this Page [hide] On this Page [show] The right to assemble is protected under both the First Amendment of the United States Constitution (“Congress shall make no law…abridging…the right of the people peaceably to assemble…”) and the Washington State Constitution Article I Section 4 (“The right of…the people peaceably to assemble for the common good shall never be abridged”). In De Jonge v. State of Oregon, 299 U.S. 353, 364 (1937), the United States Supreme Court recognized that the “right of peaceable assembly is a right cognate to those of free speech and free press and is equally fundamental,” while reversing the conviction of defendant for “criminal syndicalism” (i.e., assisting in the conduct of a meeting of the Communist Party).