Key Takeaways:
- In 2020, the District of Columbia commissioned a “Black Lives Matter” street mural. But when the Frederick Douglass Foundation and Students for Life of America attempted to chalk “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” on a D.C. sidewalk, two students were arrested.
- The two groups had a permit to assemble and a police officer’s verbal approval to write their message, yet officers threatened arrest when they arrived and followed through after the students began writing in washable chalk.
- The First Amendment forbids the government from enforcing the laws in a way that picks winners and losers in public debates.
During significant protest activity in Washington, D.C., in June 2020, two murals appeared on the streets of the city in bright yellow, permanent paint. One proclaimed “Black Lives Matter” and the other “Defund the Police.” The first was commissioned by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
This gave a pair of pro-life organizations an idea—an idea that would ultimately lead to the unjust arrest of two students.
What are the Frederick Douglass Foundation and Students for Life of America?
The Frederick Douglass Foundation is a national education and public-policy organization that advocates free-market and limited-government ideas as solutions to the hardest problems facing our nation.
Students for Life of America (SFLA) is the nation’s largest youth pro-life organization. SFLA exists to recruit, train, and mobilize students and young adults to abolish abortion.
These two organizations decided to paint a similar mural outside of a Planned Parenthood facility in D.C. This mural was to read, “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter,” pointing out the fact that Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry kill thousands of unborn black children every year. And they planned a rally in August to do just that.
Before their rally, these two groups received a permit for the assembly as well as verbal confirmation from a police officer that they would be able to paint their message on the street.
But when the rally participants arrived, they were greeted by several police cars and a group of law enforcement officers. The officers informed them that if they wrote their message on the street or even on the public sidewalk, they would be arrested.
When two students started to draw this message on the public walkway in washable sidewalk chalk, they were immediately arrested. They weren’t even able to finish writing the intended message.
This is unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. The city cannot allow some messages to be permanently painted on their streets and then deny other groups the same right just because it doesn’t like their message.
That’s why Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit against the city on behalf of the Frederick Douglass Foundation and SFLA.
Free speech is for everyone
The Frederick Douglass Foundation and SFLA wanted to paint their message in exactly the same manner that the “Black Lives Matter” and “Defund the Police” messages were painted. Yet they were stopped and told that their actions would be considered the “defacement of public property.”
And while such laws are well-intentioned—meant to prohibit criminal activity—they cannot be used as a tool to silence disfavored speech. But that is exactly what happened here.
Why is one yellow-painted message considered defacement of public property while two other yellow-painted messages are allowed—and one even encouraged—by the D.C. mayor?
The answer is simple: the government favors these two messages over the message “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter.”
In light of this unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Frederick Douglass Foundation and SFLA in November 2020, but a federal district court dismissed the case. ADF then appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which in August 2023 reversed the lower court’s decision on the advocates’ free speech claim and allowed the lawsuit to proceed on that claim. However, the district court once again ruled against the Frederick Douglass Foundation and SFLA on competing motions for summary judgment, leading ADF attorneys to once again appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court.
The bottom line
Every individual and organization should be able to peacefully express their beliefs. The right to free speech is for everyone—not just those in power. The government can’t pick winners and losers and silence speakers just because it doesn’t like what they say. It has a duty to uphold that freedom for all its citizens—regardless of whether it agrees with them.
The Frederick Douglass Foundation v. District of Columbia
- November 2020: ADF attorneys representing the Frederick Douglass Foundation and SFLA filed a lawsuit against the District.
- October 2021: ADF attorneys appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit after a lower court dismissed the case.
- August 2023: The D.C. Circuit Court reversed the lower court’s decision and ruled that the lawsuit could proceed.
- February 2026: The district court again ruled for the city, granting its motion for summary judgment.
- March 2026: ADF attorneys once again appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court to reverse the district court’s ruling and remand for a jury to decide the case. They filed their opening brief in July.
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