The US Supreme Court was created for one single reason – to interpret the Constitution of the United States when applied to law. Luckily, that’s exactly what they did this week when they stood up for a Bostonian’s right to fly his Christian flag loud and proud.
The case centered around a Christian group wanting top fly a Christian flag on City Hall after an open invitation was issued for groups to use it’s flagpole. The government of Boston approved 284 applications in a row before turning down the flag showing the cross.
The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the Christian organization, saying that Boston created a public forum when they opened their flag pole up for various groups to use then restricted the group’s free speech by denying their application. Boston had argued that approving a religious flag would have infringed upon the First Amendment protection that bars government from showing support for any particular religion.
Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in the decision, “When the government encourages diverse expression — say, by creating a forum for debate — the First Amendment prevents it from discriminating against speakers based on their viewpoint.”
Breyer continued, “The city’s lack of meaningful involvement in the selection of flags or the crafting of their messages leads us to classify the flag raisings as private, not government, speech — though nothing prevents Boston from changing its policies going forward.”
Three of the 6 conservative justices on the court wrote a separate decision which said that, while they agree with the conclusion of the original, they disagree with Breyer’s logic in the case.
The conservative justices wrote in their concurring opinion, “Under the Constitution, a government may not treat religious persons, religious organizations, or religious speech as second-class.”
It is always encouraging to see the Supreme Court working the way it should, where Justices who may disagree politically come together in a single decision protecting our Constitutional rights. Do you think more politicians should learn from the court and figure out a way to work together for the sake of the country?
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