9-0 Win for Free Speech

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the City of Boston violated the First Amendment by denying an application to fly a Christian flag after granting hundreds of applications to fly other flags.  The City defended its denial on the grounds that the flag pole in question was on public grounds (in front of Boston’s City Hall), and therefore people would think that the City supported religion (Christianity). The High Court rejected the City’s argument that flying a flag in front of City Hall was government speech, stating that the censorship was viewpoint discrimination and there was no Establishment Clause defense. 

Justice Breyer wrote the majority opinion in which Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Barrett joined. Justice Kavanaugh filed a short (one page) concurring opinion. Justice Alito filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Justices Thomas and Gorsuch joined. Justice Gorsuch filed a concurring opinion in the judgment, in which Justice Thomas joined. 

In summing up his opinion Justice Breyer wrote, “Here, Boston concedes that it denied Shurtleff’s request solely because the Christian flag he asked to raise 'promot[ed] a specific religion.' . . . Under our precedents, and in view of our government-speech holding here, that refusal discriminated based on religious viewpoint and violated the Free Speech Clause.'”

The Family Foundation joined an amicus brief in this case. You can read it here.