Boston Defied First Amendment In Christian Flag Case: Supreme Court

BOSTON — On Monday the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Boston violated the First Amendment rights of a group who wanted to briefly raise a Christian flag on a pole outside City Hall a few years back.

Camp Constitution, the group that wanted to raise a flag that contained a red cross on a blue field against a white background during a one-hour event at Boston's City Hall in 2017, was rejected.

Boston's City Hall has three flagpoles and leaves one available for private organizations. Over the last decade, the city has approved more than 280 flyings but has only rejected one - Camp Constitution's Christian flag.

Camp Constitution and its director Harold Shurtleff sued the city of Boston in 2017, claiming it violated its free speech rights.

"For years, Boston has allowed private groups to request use of the flagpole to raise flags of their choosing," Justice Stephen Breyer, who delivered the opinion of the court said, noting that the city never denied a request until Shurtleff's in 2017.

In turn, Justice Breyer added that Boston "violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment" by not allowing Camp Constitution to fly their flag.

Camp Constitution claims its goal is to "enhance understanding of our Judeo-Christian heritage" and fly its flag "based on religious viewpoints."

Since Boston created an open forum, it is not allowed to discriminate based on different perspectives, the court ruled, adding that if Boston had flown flags to communicate its own messages, it would be immune from free speech violation claims.

According to the ruling, the court said the flag display amounted to a public forum, and because other groups were allowed to raise their flags in celebration, the city could not discriminate on the basis of the religious group's viewpoint without violating the Constitution citing freedom of speech.

"We conclude that, on balance, Boston did not make the raising and flying of private groups' flags a form of government speech," Justice Breyer wrote. "That means, in turn, that Boston's refusal to let Shurtleff and Camp Constitution raise their flag based on its religious viewpoint [abridged] their 'freedom of speech.'"