WASHINGTON – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing members of the Frederick Douglass Foundation and Students for Life of America filed their opening brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Monday.
In August 2020, Washington, D.C. police officers prevented members of the pro-life groups from writing “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” in washable chalk on a public sidewalk outside Planned Parenthood and arrested the two chalkers for defacement of public property. Meanwhile, protestors spray-painted city streets and sidewalks that summer and fall with Black Lives Matter messages—including protesters spray-painting “I can’t breathe” outside the Chamber of Commerce and adding “= Defund the Police” to the “Black Lives Matter” mural the city commissioned. None of them were apprehended.
Three years ago, the D.C. Circuit reinstated the First Amendment claims of the two pro-life organizations and sent the case back to the district court. After discovery, the district court again ruled for the city, granting its motion for summary judgment.
“Washington officials can’t censor messages they disagree with. The right to free speech is for everyone,” said ADF Senior Counsel John Bursch, vice president of appellate advocacy. “As this court has already held, in this very case, the ‘First Amendment prohibits the government from favoring some speakers over others’ in law enforcement. The Frederick Douglass Foundation and Students for Life should be able to exercise their constitutionally protected freedom to peacefully share their views the same as anyone else. We’re urging the court to once again protect every American’s right to speak messages on important cultural and political issues.”
ADF attorneys are asking the D.C. Circuit to reverse the district court’s ruling and remand for a jury to decide the case, The Frederick Douglass Foundation v. District of Columbia.
“The government has no business deciding which political viewpoints get a free pass and which get handcuffs,” said Frederick Douglass Foundation’s Chairman Troy Rolling. “Equal justice means applying the law equally, not rewarding favored speech while punishing dissenting voices. If the First Amendment means anything, it means government cannot silence Americans because it disagrees with what they have to say.”
“Pro-abortion leaders in the nation’s capital must not be allowed to violate the U.S. Constitution by criminalizing pro-life speech they don’t like, and we will come back to court in Washington D.C. for as many times as it takes to protect the rights of Americans who care about babies in the womb,” said SFLA President Kristan Hawkins. “Blocking pro-life students from peacefully chalking Black Preborn Lives Matter is viewpoint discrimination. It’s striking that one of the few ways for protestors to get the attention of D.C. officials is not by violence or vandalism, but by voicing love and concern for the preborn with chalk.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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