ACLU Sues DC Metro For Banning 'First Amendment' (Literally) And Other Controversial Content

from the strange-bedfellows dept

Free speech can make for some strange bedfellows at times, and the ACLU certainly has a history of defending the free speech rights of people from across the political spectrum (and out to the extremes). The ACLU's willingness to defend just about anyone's free speech rights sometimes confuses people who incorrectly think that free speech should only be protected for people you agree with. The most famous example of the ACLU's willingness to protect the free speech rights of those that they themselves likely disagree with is the famous case in which it defended the right of the KKK to march in Skokie, Illinois. But the ACLU may have just filed a new case that people can point to -- as they seem to have collected plaintiffs from different extremes of the political spectrum, all suing over the DC Metro's refusal to accept their controversial ads. In this case, the ACLU is representing "I just want to seem so controversial" Milo Yiannopoulos's company Milo Worldwide, as well as PETA (you know who they are) and Carafem (a healthcare organization that helps women get birth control and abortions). Oh, and themselves.

The defendant is the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), the organization that runs the Metro. The issue is that all four organizations sought to purchase "controversial" ads for the Metro, and all were rejected. Let's start with the ACLU's own ad, because this one is the most ridiculous of all. The ACLU tried to buy an ad that was just... the First Amendment. Really. No joke.

Doesn't seem very controversial, right? Well, according to the ACLU, this ad was rejected for trying to "influence public policy."

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.”

Quoting the Constitution might influence public policy? I mean, sure, but wouldn't it influence it in a way that is, well, Constitutional?

The other three ads were all more "traditionally" controversial, even if they might be controversial to very different groups of people. Carafem's ad was rejected because it mentioned abortion. PETA's ad was rejected because it told people to "go vegan." And Milo's ad was rejected after people complained about it (yes, they were originally put up, but then pulled).

As the ACLU summarizes:

The ideas espoused by each of these four plaintiffs are anathema to someone — as is pretty much every human idea. By rejecting these ads and accepting ads from gambling casinos, military contractors, and internet sex apps, WMATA showed just how subjective its ban is. Even more frightening, however, WMATA’s policy is an attempt to silence anyone who tries to make you think. Any one of these advertisements, had it passed WMATA’s censor, would have been the subject of someone’s outraged call to WMATA.

So, to anyone who’d be outraged to see Mr. Yiannopoulos’ advertisement — please recognize that if he comes down, so do we all. The First Amendment doesn’t, and shouldn’t, tolerate that kind of impoverishment of our public conversation. Not even in the subway.

At the end of the day, it’s a real shame that WMATA didn’t accept the ACLU’s advertisement — the agency could really have used that refresher on the First Amendment.

As for the actual lawsuit, there are a series of First Amendment claims about why the activity is unconstitutional (viewpoint discrimination, unfettered discretion, unreasonable application) and a Fifth Amendment due process claim for vagueness in the policy. The exhibits also contrast the rejected ads with ads that were allowed -- including ones for joining the military, drinking beer, other medical procedures, hookup apps and (of course) edible meats. All in all a pretty solid case.

And we've already seen some people bitching about the ACLU representing any of these folks -- and you can count me among those who isn't a fan of PETA (have you seen what I've written about those guys?) and who hates giving Milo any attention at all, since that's basically all he wants (see what I put myself through to get you stories?). I don't know anything about Carefem, but I'm sure some people hate them too because "abortion." But I appreciate the fact that there's an ACLU that will stand up for all of their free speech rights (and its own).

Filed Under: advertising, dc metro, first amendment, free speech, metro, milo
Companies: aclu, carafem, peta, wmata