![]() ![]() What hangs there surely appears to have been approved and condoned by government. ![]() A flagpole outside a government building is official. ![]() It’s not like a demonstration in the plaza outside City Hall, where it’s clear that the banners and signs represent the speech of the protesters. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Biden administration agree with that position lower courts disagree.īut I’m skeptical that a towering flagpole in the center of government, in front of City Hall, can really be a “public forum.” Most reasonable people would obviously see a flag flying there as an expression of government speech. They said the flagpole had, in effect, become a public soapbox on which all points of view could be expressed. Nicholas Goldberg: House Speaker Donald Trump - could there be a worse idea?Īt first it seemed like crazy talk that an ex-president who wasn’t a member of Congress could become speaker, but given U.S. In fact, it would be a violation of the 1st Amendment for the city to deny their application on the basis of their viewpoint or the content of their message. ![]() That means, they argued, that government could no longer decide which messages were acceptable and which were not. They sued, arguing that by “taking all comers” in the past, the city had transformed the flagpole into a “public forum,” and that the message being sent by the flag was now “public speech” rather than “government speech,” a critical distinction in the law. No group had ever been turned away when it had applied, so Shurtleff figured that he’d get the go-ahead too.īut the city refused him, saying it would be a violation of the 1st Amendment’s establishment clause to hang the Christian flag from a government flagpole. The third-party flags are raised where the flag of the city usually flies, next to poles carrying the banners of the United States and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. But it has also been granted in recent years to an organization flying the LGBT pride flag as well as to groups celebrating transgender rights, Malcolm X day, Mother’s Day and others. Mostly, that privilege has been extended to flags of other nations. But I was wrong about Joe Manchin’s weak characterįor months I calmly told anyone who was listening that the system was working and the social spending bill would get passed. Nicholas Goldberg: I really didn’t think he’d do it. ![]()
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