Pamela Geller, Breitbart: Bound by Bad Precedent, Judge Rules Against Free Speech in Boston

Read my article, the latest on our lawsuit against Boston Transit’s sharia enforcement.

“Bound by Bad Precedent, Judge Rules Against Free Speech in Boston,” By Pamela Geller, Breitbart, January 3, 2013

My organization, the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) tried to place pro-Israel ads in Boston, countering anti-Israel ads that ran there. Our ad read, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad.”

The ad was rejected, and we sued. Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Gorton ruled against us in our preliminary injunction against Boston’s Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA). No surprise here, during our hearing Judge Gorton said that he did not have the authority to rule on matters out of his jurisdiction. Still, Gorton dropped the ball on the question of “reasonableness.”

This is Boston, after all, site of the most recent jihad bombing in America, so Gorton’s ruling is sad and regrettable. We will, of course, appeal.

A couple of weeks ago I headed to Boston to cover a hearing concerning our pro-Israel ads that had been barred from running by the MBTA. Such abusive violations of our freedoms have become catalysts for historical resistance and actions in the defense of freedom. And these dangerous restrictions on speech must be fought.

It was the MBTA that invited the debate on this issue by accepting anti-Israel ads. And then they turned and said that our ad was objectionable. They accepted an ad on the same subject that was so genuinely demeaning and disparaging that it had to be taken down after numerous complaints, only to be restored later, and then they had the audacity to reject our ad. That is viewpoint restriction and unconstitutional (even under the Ridley decision).

The jihad against Israel is savage. Any war against innocent civilians is savage. That this is “controversial” or “demeaning” illustrates just how far down the rabbit hole we have gone.

My lawyers at the American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) filed a motion for a preliminary injunction and accompanying brief, requesting that the court order the MBTA to display the pro-Israel advertisement. David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise represented AFDI in our lawsuit against the MBTA.

We knew going in that overcoming the Ridley decision was an enormous hurdle. The Ridley case is the Dred Scott of free speech decisions. During our hearingJudge Gorton specifically stated that, being a district judge, he did not have the authority to rule on or alter the decision in that case.

Read the rest here.

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