New York MTA Ban On Ads That Demean Religious Groups Violates 1st Amendment

In American Freedom Defense Initiative v. Metropolitan Transit Authority, (SD NY, July 20, 2012), a New York federal district court held unconstitutional the provision in the standards for the sale of ad space on New York City buses that prohibits ads which demean a religious group. AFDI wanted to buy ad space on the tails of 318 NYCTA buses to run an ad reading: "In Any War Between the Civilized Man and the Savage, Support the Civilized Man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad."  The court held that advertising space on exterior of buses is a designated public forum in which content based restrictions are subject to strict scrutiny. The MTA policy at issue which precludes ads that demean an individual or group on account of "race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation" was seen to be content based: "as presently worded, [it] overtly differentiates among speech based on the target of the speech's abuse and invective." The New York Times reports on the decision. [Thanks to Steven H Sholk for the lead and to Fairness blog for posting the decision.]