A court ruling win for Pamela Geller from Atlas Shrugs where the court protects the First Amendment.
Via NYT:
The group, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, had wanted to place text-only advertisements that said, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.”Then, between two Stars of David, the advertisement said: “Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.”The transportation agency said that the ad violated its prohibition on advertisements that demeaned individuals or groups on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin and several other listed categories. The group was given the opportunity to revise the advertisement, but it refused, arguing that the “no-demeaning standard” was a violation of the First Amendment.The judge, Paul A. Engelmayer of United States District Court, said in a 35-page opinion that the agency’s standards would still permit ads that contained demeaning language as long as it demeaned people or groups outside of the characteristics or circumstances included in the prohibited list. He even offered examples, like “Blondes are bimbos,” “Lawyers are sleazebags” or “Upper West Siders are elitist snobs.”
Geller provides the Court ruling here for download.
The ad in question, shown below:
Over at Atlas Shrugs, Ms. Geller is doing a victory dance, as well she should be.
“In light of that, disallowing a pro-Israel ad was clearly a politically correct, politically motivated denial of free speech,” said Pamela Geller, Executive Director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative. “As such, Judge Engelamyer’s decision is crucial not just for AFDI and the MTA, but for the freedom of speech in general,” “The AFDI case has set a key legal precedent for the freedom of speech and won a great victory for the First Amendment.”
Geller added: “The freedom of speech is increasingly threatened in the U.S. in recent years -- the Left and Islamic supremacists are doing all they can to rule honest discussion of Islamic jihad violence and Jew-hatred out of the realm of acceptable public discourse. Judge Engelmayer has struck a huge blow against this sinister authoritarian effort and for the freedom of speech that is the cornerstone of all our freedoms. Truth will not be suppressed or embargoed.”
Congratulations Pamela, you fought the good fight and you won.
Kudos.