Alliance Defending Freedom Secures Win in Pro-Life Chalk Mural Lawsuit
Chalk up another win for Life and Alliance Defending Freedom.
In a significant ruling for free speech, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently upheld the First Amendment rights of two pro-life organizations who sought to use chalk to display a pro-life message on a city sidewalk.
Members of The Frederick Douglass Foundation and Students for Life of America, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys, filed The Frederick Douglass Foundation v. District of Columbia after Washington D.C. officials denied them permission to chalk their message on a public sidewalk even though the city had allowed other groups to paint messages preferred by officials on different city streets.
The background of the case goes back to 2020. During the “Black Lives Matter” protests in June of that year, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser commissioned a yellow “Black Lives Matter” mural on a street in permanent paint, the length of an entire city block.
Subsequently, protestors added a “Defund the Police” message on the same street.
In response to these murals, The Frederick Douglass Foundation and Students for Life of America sought to paint a similar style mural outside of the Planned Parenthood Carole Whitehill Moses Center with the message “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter,” highlighting their belief that abortion disproportionately affects unborn African-American children.
The group obtained a permit for an assembly, and verbal assurance of being allowed to paint their mural from a police officer, but upon arriving to paint, they were met with numerous police vehicles and officers. They were warned that using paint or even washable sidewalk chalk would lead to their arrest for defacing public property.
Despite the warning, two students attempted to write a small message in washable chalk but were arrested before completing it.
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys argued that the city should not have the authority to permit some groups to express themselves in the public forum while preventing others from doing so because of their differing viewpoints.
The D.C. Circuit agreed.
“The First Amendment prohibits the government from favoring some speakers over others. Access to public fora must be open to everyone and to every message on the same terms. The District may act to prevent the defacement of public property, but it cannot open up its streets and sidewalks to some viewpoints and not others,” the court wrote in its opinion reversing the decision of a lower court in The Frederick Douglass Foundation v. District of Columbia.
In a statement on Alliance Defending Freedom Media, Senior Counsel Erin Hawley, vice president of the ADF Center for Life and Regulatory Practice, who argued the case before the court, said that they were pleased that the D.C. Circuit agreed that the pro-life organizations should be able to exercise their constitutionally protected freedom to peacefully share their views the same as anyone else. “Every American deserves for their voice to be heard as they engage in important cultural and political issues of the day,” Hawley said.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, marriage and family, and the sanctity of life.
Alliance Defending Freedom Church Alliance and Alliance Defending Freedom Ministry Alliance are ministry arms of Alliance Defending Freedom, offering essential legal support to a diverse range of religious organizations, including schools, camps, homeless shelters, higher education institutions, and various other ministries to help them confidently navigate legal challenges and cultural issues.
