By Ann E. Marimow, washingtonpost.com, 5-30-18
Advertisements promoting the American Civil Liberties Union’s upcoming national conference in Washington, D.C., will not appear at Metro stations or on buses, after a federal judge refused Wednesday to force the D.C. regional transit agency to accept the ads.
The decision from U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan upholds Metro’s rejection of the ACLU’s planned ads, which the agency said violated its ban on issue advocacy.
Metro “reasonably concluded” the ACLU’s proposed ads “violated its prohibition on advertisements intended to influence public policy,” Chutkan wrote in a nine-page order.
The ACLU’s case is one of several challenges to Metro’s policy that also prohibits political and religious advertisements. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is considering whether Metro’s policy goes too far in keeping out religious messages in a lawsuit brought by the Archdiocese of Washington. » Read More