Washington Archdiocese considers next step in lawsuit over transit ad

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WASHINGTON
(CNS) — The Archdiocese of Washington was weighing its options after a federal
judge denied a request for an emergency injunction over the Washington
Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s advertising guidelines.

U.S.
District Judge Amy Berman Jackson Dec. 8 denied the archdiocese’s request that
WMATA be required to post an ad promoting its annual
“Find the Perfect Gift” initiative for the Advent season.

Transit
authority officials had denied the ad based on 2015 policies that ban ads
“that promote or oppose any religion, religious practice or belief.”

“We
are disappointed that the federal court denied our emergency request for an
injunction to run our ‘Find the Perfect Gift’ Advent campaign,” Ed
McFadden, the archdiocese’s secretary for communications, said in a statement
Dec. 9.

“While
this preliminary ruling that there should be no room made for us on WMATA buses
is disappointing, we will continue in the coming days to pursue and defend our
right to share the important message of Christmas in the public square,”
the statement said.

Berman
found that while buses are controlled by a government agency, the authority’s
rules likely are legal and reasonable because WMATA’s restrictions are not
based on whether the agency opposes the advertiser’s particular views.

The
archdiocese contended WMATA’s policy that “prohibits all noncommercial
advertising, including any speech that purportedly promotes a religion,
religious practice or belief,” is a violation of the free speech and free
exercise of religion clauses of the First Amendment and a violation of the due
process clause of the Fifth Amendment.

The
WMATA’s prohibition, the archdiocese contends, “violates the free speech
rights of the archdiocese because the prohibition creates an unreasonable and
disproportionate burden on the exercise of the archdiocese’s speech without any
legitimate justification.”

The
archdiocese has in previous years advertised on WMATA’s public buses. Up until
2015, the archdiocese purchased WMATA space for ads that, according to the
lawsuit, “were explicitly religious in character.”

“These
advertisements included a campaign highlighting the importance of the sacrament
of reconciliation during the liturgical season of Lent. This campaign, ‘The
Light Is on for You,’ was remarkably successful for the archdiocese — and
lucrative for WMATA — with advertisements on the backs of 85 buses throughout
the metropolitan area.”

The
rejected ads highlight the archdiocese’s annual “Find the Perfect
Gift” campaign, which refers viewers to the FindThePerfectGift.org website
that includes Mass schedules, reflections on the meaning of Advent and
Christmas, religious holiday traditions and opportunities for charitable
service. The image is a silhouette of shepherds and sheep standing on a hill.

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