South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has joined a coalition of 26 states in filing a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging the Hillsborough County Transit Authority’s no-religious-speech advertising policy. The coalition contends that this policy infringes on the First Amendment rights of Young Israel of Tampa, a Jewish synagogue, which sought to advertise on public transportation in Tampa, Florida.
"I believe this policy is clearly unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment," Attorney General Wilson stated. "And a public body having a policy against religious advertising is also discriminatory."
The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) rejected Young Israel of Tampa’s proposed advertisement for its “Chanukah on Ice” event because it was deemed religious. Conversely, HART accepted another group’s advertisement for its “Winter Village” event because it was not religious. Under HART’s no-religious-speech advertising policy, this distinction—one ad being religious and the other not—resulted in the rejection of “Chanukah on Ice” while accepting “Winter Village.”
This case has seen two previous multistate briefs supporting Young Israel before the Eleventh Circuit.
In addition to South Carolina, the Alabama-led coalition includes Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.