(RNS) — On Tuesday (May 21), a U.S. District Court ruled in favor of WallBuilders, a religious nonprofit banned from displaying its ads on Washington, D.C., buses, in its lawsuit challenging the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s advertisement policy.In its lawsuit filed in December, WallBuilders claimed the WMATA’s ad guidelines discriminated against certain opinions and violated the First Amendment.
The agency rejected the WallBuilders campaign on the grounds that it violated its commercial advertising guidelines, which prohibit ads that “promote or oppose any religion, religious practice or belief” and “influence members of the public regarding an issue on which there are varying opinions.”
Judge Beryl A. Howell called WMATA’s guidelines “vague” and said they didn’t provide “objective, workable standards” that could be reasonably applied as the First Amendment requires. Guideline 9, banning ads that intend to influence opinions on controversial issues, isn’t a “reasonable restriction on speech,” said Howell.
“We are pleased that this ruling moves us one step closer to ending WMATA’s arbitrary censorship of speech about public issues,” said Arthur Spitzer, senior counsel at the ACLU District of Columbia, which represents WallBuilders along with the ACLU, First Liberty Institute and Steptoe law firm.
RELATED: ACLU files suit against DC transit agency over refusal to display religious group’s ads
Founded in 1989 by Texas conservative evangelical David Barton, WallBuilders promotes the idea that Christian faith played an important role in the creation of the Union and the drafting of …
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The agency rejected the WallBuilders campaign on the grounds that it violated its commercial advertising guidelines, which prohibit ads that “promote or oppose any religion, religious practice or belief” and “influence members of the public regarding an issue on which there are varying opinions.”
Judge Beryl A. Howell called WMATA’s guidelines “vague” and said they didn’t provide “objective, workable standards” that could be reasonably applied as the First Amendment requires. Guideline 9, banning ads that intend to influence opinions on controversial issues, isn’t a “reasonable restriction on speech,” said Howell.
“We are pleased that this ruling moves us one step closer to ending WMATA’s arbitrary censorship of speech about public issues,” said Arthur Spitzer, senior counsel at the ACLU District of Columbia, which represents WallBuilders along with the ACLU, First Liberty Institute and Steptoe law firm.
RELATED: ACLU files suit against DC transit agency over refusal to display religious group’s ads
Founded in 1989 by Texas conservative evangelical David Barton, WallBuilders promotes the idea that Christian faith played an important role in the creation of the Union and the drafting of …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]