Washington (CNN)The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Monday that Boston violated the First Amendment rights of a group seeking to briefly raise a Christian flag atop a city flagpole outside of City Hall as a part of a city program celebrating Boston's greater community.
The court said that the flag display amounted to a public forum, and because many other groups were allowed to raise their flags in celebration of the Boston community, the city could not discriminate on the basis of the religious group's viewpoint without violating the Constitution.
"We conclude that, on balance, Boston did not make the raising and flying of private groups' flags a form of government speech," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote.
The case was filed in 2018 after a Boston official denied the application by the group Camp Constitution to raise a flag -- described as "Christian" in the application -- on one of the three flagpoles outside Boston's city hall. The group is an all-volunteer association that seeks to "enhance understanding of the country's Judeo-Christian moral heritage."
Central to the case was whether the flagpole is perceived as an example of government speech. If so, the city has a right to limit displays without violating free speech principles. The Free Speech Clause of the Constitution restricts government regulation of private speech, it does not regulate government speech.
But if, on the other hand, the display amounts to private speech, in a government-created forum where others are invited to express their views, the government cannot discriminate based on the viewpoint of one of the speakers.
Breyer concluded that the flag-raising program "does not express government speech."
All of the justices agreed on the outcome of the case, but three conservative justices said they had different reasons for ruling against Boston.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing for Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, said that though the court relied upon "history, the public's perception of who is speaking, and the extent to which the government has exercised control over speech" to determine that the flag-raising program did not amount to government speech, he would have analyzed the case based on a more exacting definition of what constitutes government speech.
Under a more narrow definition of government speech, Alito wrote that it occurs "if -- but only if" a government "purposefully expresses a message of its own through persons authorized to speak on its behalf."
He said the flag program in Boston "cannot possibly constitute government speech" because the city never deputized private speakers and that the various flags flown under the program "reflected a dizzying and contradictory array of perspectives that cannot be understood to express the message of a single speaker."
Boston occasionally allows private groups to fly flags, which are often flags from different countries, on one of the flag poles as part of a program to celebrate various Boston communities. The flag-raising events are in connection with ethnic and other cultural celebrations or the arrival of dignitaries from other countries or to commemorate historic events.
According to Camp Constitution, Boston in the 12 years prior had approved 284 other flags that private organizations had sought to raise as part of the program and no other previous applications had been rejected.
In a case of unusual bedfellows, the conservative Christian group seeking to fly its flag gained the support of both the Biden administration and the American Civil Liberties Union.
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The court said that the flag display amounted to a public forum, and because many other groups were allowed to raise their flags in celebration of the Boston community, the city could not discriminate on the basis of the religious group's viewpoint without violating the Constitution.
"We conclude that, on balance, Boston did not make the raising and flying of private groups' flags a form of government speech," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote.
The case was filed in 2018 after a Boston official denied the application by the group Camp Constitution to raise a flag -- described as "Christian" in the application -- on one of the three flagpoles outside Boston's city hall. The group is an all-volunteer association that seeks to "enhance understanding of the country's Judeo-Christian moral heritage."
Central to the case was whether the flagpole is perceived as an example of government speech. If so, the city has a right to limit displays without violating free speech principles. The Free Speech Clause of the Constitution restricts government regulation of private speech, it does not regulate government speech.
But if, on the other hand, the display amounts to private speech, in a government-created forum where others are invited to express their views, the government cannot discriminate based on the viewpoint of one of the speakers.
Breyer concluded that the flag-raising program "does not express government speech."
All of the justices agreed on the outcome of the case, but three conservative justices said they had different reasons for ruling against Boston.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing for Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, said that though the court relied upon "history, the public's perception of who is speaking, and the extent to which the government has exercised control over speech" to determine that the flag-raising program did not amount to government speech, he would have analyzed the case based on a more exacting definition of what constitutes government speech.
Under a more narrow definition of government speech, Alito wrote that it occurs "if -- but only if" a government "purposefully expresses a message of its own through persons authorized to speak on its behalf."
He said the flag program in Boston "cannot possibly constitute government speech" because the city never deputized private speakers and that the various flags flown under the program "reflected a dizzying and contradictory array of perspectives that cannot be understood to express the message of a single speaker."
Boston occasionally allows private groups to fly flags, which are often flags from different countries, on one of the flag poles as part of a program to celebrate various Boston communities. The flag-raising events are in connection with ethnic and other cultural celebrations or the arrival of dignitaries from other countries or to commemorate historic events.
According to Camp Constitution, Boston in the 12 years prior had approved 284 other flags that private organizations had sought to raise as part of the program and no other previous applications had been rejected.
In a case of unusual bedfellows, the conservative Christian group seeking to fly its flag gained the support of both the Biden administration and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Supreme Court says Boston violated First Amendment rights of group seeking to raise a Christian flag outside City Hall | CNN Politics
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Monday that Boston violated the First Amendment rights of a group seeking to briefly raise a Christian flag atop a city flagpole outside of City Hall as a part of a city program celebrating Boston's greater community.
