Unanimous Supreme Court: Boston violated free speech in denying Christian flag at city hall event

 By Heather Clark - Posted at Christian News Network:

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the City of Boston violated the Constitution in declining a request to fly the Christian flag outside of city hall during an event organized by a private, not governmental, organization.

“Because the flag-raising program did not express government speech, Boston’s refusal to let petitioners fly their flag violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment,” the court declared on Monday. “When the government does not speak for itself, it may not exclude private speech based on ‘religious viewpoint’; doing so ‘constitutes impermissible viewpoint discrimination.'”

The justices concluded that since the City allows a plethora of groups to temporarily fly their flags at the site throughout the year — from the flags of foreign nations, to homosexual pride banners, to flags acknowledging EMS workers — its “come-one-come-all practice” does not suggest government endorsement of every hoisted message.

“The boundary between government speech and private expression can blur when, as here, the government invites the people to participate in a program. In those situations, the court conducts a holistic inquiry to determine whether the government intends to speak for itself or, rather, to regulate private expression,” a syllabus of the decision outlined.

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