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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
Can the government ban the text of the First Amendment itself on municipal transit ads because free speech is too "political" for public display? If this sounds like some ridiculous brain teaser, it should. But unfortunately it's not. It's a core claim in a lawsuit we filed today challenging the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) restrictions on controversial advertising.
[...] Earlier this year, following President Trump's repeated commentary denigrating journalists and Muslims, the ACLU decided to remind everyone about that very first promise in the Bill of Rights: that Congress shall make no law interfering with our freedoms of speech and religion. As part of a broad advertising campaign, the ACLU erected ads in numerous places, featuring the text of the First Amendment. Not only in English, but in Spanish and Arabic, too — to remind people that the Constitution is for everyone.
The ACLU inquired about placing our ads with WMATA, envisioning an inspirational reminder of our founding texts, with a trilingual twist, in the transit system of the nation's capital. But it was not to be: Our ad was rejected because WMATA's advertising policies forbid, among many other things, advertisements "intended to influence members of the public regarding an issue on which there are varying opinions" or "intended to influence public policy."
You don't have to be a First Amendment scholar to know that something about that stinks.
Source: https://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/first-amendment-literally-banned-dc
Also at NPR.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday August 11 2017, @02:55PM (3 children)
After that rape story last year, Rolling Stone has no credibility at all.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:00AM (2 children)
I see, so everything they say is false? Even an opinion piece? What about their top 100 (well, there I will admit some disagreement myself)? You still read the Post, NYT, watch CBS, CNN?
Besides all that, "credibility" has nothing to do with the price of rice in this instance.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mcgrew on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:03PM (1 child)
No, only that everything they write is suspect. If they're the only ones saying it, it's likely BS. Actually, I never trust any info that only comes from one source, especially if that one source is a proven bullshitter.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:19PM
All the others I mentioned (and a few that I haven't) are proven bullshitters too. Either way, the purpose of the reference had nothing at all to do with credibility. I was posting a satirical look at the real attacks on the 1st Amendment. Don't be a party pooper
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..