Texas Div., Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc., 576 U. S. The Court’s cases have looked to several types of evidence to guide the analysis, including: the history of the expression at issue the public’s likely perception as to who (the government or a private person) is speaking and the extent to which the government has actively shaped or controlled the expression. 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. The boundary between government speech and private expression can blur when, as here, the government invites the people to participate in a program. The government must be able to decide what to say and what not to say when it states an opinion, speaks for the community, formulates policies, or implements programs.
#GAY PRIDE FLAG RAISING FREE#
(a) The Free Speech Clause does not prevent the government from declining to express a view. Boston’s flag-raising program does not express government speech. This Court granted certiorari to decide whether the flags Boston allows others to fly express government speech, and whether Boston could, consistent with the Free Speech Clause, deny petitioners’ flag-raising request. The District Court held that flying private groups’ flags from City Hall’s third flagpole amounted to government speech, so Boston could refuse petitioners’ request without running afoul of the First Amendment. Shurtleff and Camp Constitution (petitioners) sued, claiming that Boston’s refusal to let them raise their flag violated, among other things, the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause.
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He therefore told Shurtleff that the group could hold an event on the plaza but could not raise their flag during it. In 2017, Harold Shurtleff, the director of an organization called Camp Constitution, asked to hold an event on the plaza to celebrate the civic and social contributions of the Christian community as part of that ceremony, he wished to raise what he described as the “Christian flag.” The commissioner of Boston’s Property Management Department worried that flying a religious flag at City Hall could violate the Establishment Clause and found no past instance of the city’s having raised such a flag. Most of these flags were other countries’, but some were associated with groups or causes, such as the Pride Flag, a banner honoring emergency medical service workers, and others. Between 20, Boston approved the raising of about 50 unique flags for 284 such ceremonies. But Boston has, for years, allowed groups to hold ceremonies on the plaza during which participants may hoist a flag of their choosing on the third pole in place of the city’s flag.
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Boston usually flies the city’s own flag from the third pole. Boston flies the American flag from the first pole and the flag of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from the second. Just outside the entrance to Boston City Hall, on City Hall Plaza, stand three flagpoles.