[ April 20, 2024 ]
We are appealing the liberal-fascists’ end run around the First Amendment.
“AFLC Appeals Order Allowing MTA to Sidestep Injunction and Refuse Pamela Geller’s Ad,” AFLC, June 22, 2015
Today (June 22, 2015), lawyers for Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, and their non-profit organization, American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, appealing a federal district court’s ruling last Friday that “dissolved” the court’s earlier order requiring the New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to run Geller’s “Hamas Killing Jews” advertisement displayed below.
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Judge John G. Koeltl, presiding in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in downtown Manhattan, had earlier ruled on April 20 that the MTA’s refusal to run the ad, claiming that Muslims in New York might understand the ad to be advocating violence and would therefore incite them to murder Jews as Islamic worship, was unconstitutional. In fact, Judge Koetl ruled that there was no evidence of any threat of violence.
The court stayed (i.e., postponed) the enforcement of its order for 30 days to give the MTA time to appeal or to work out the logistics of running the ad. The MTA did neither. Instead, it convened a public board meeting at which MTA board member Charles Moerdler ranted incoherently about hate speech and Geller’s newly proposed ads designed to expose wealthy Jews who supported boycotting, divesting, and sanctioning Israel—what is referred to as the BDS movement.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the board voted to change the MTA ad policy by excluding all speech that, according to MTA officials, addressed “disputed” causes and issues. On the heels of that decision, the MTA filed a motion to “dissolve” the court’s previous order to run the Hamas Killing Jews ad on the grounds that the MTA was no longer applying the “incitement” provision, but rather a “no political message” provision. The district court granted that motion.
The American Freedom Law Center (AFLC), a national, nonprofit Judeo-Christian law firm, which represents Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, and AFDI, opposed the motion on numerous grounds, not the least of which was that the MTA’s conduct was and continues to be in bad faith and a transparent effort to silence Geller’s criticism of Islamic terrorism and the media bias against Israel.
Judge Koeltl issued his ruling granting the MTA’s motion and thus dissolving the order requiring the MTA to run the ad on Friday afternoon.
David Yerushalmi, AFLC Co-Founder and Senior Counsel, explained,
“We believe strongly that the court has misread the First Amendment law regarding limited public fora and thus applied the wrong, less exacting standard. We have two options at this time. Accept this ruling and amend our complaint to challenge the MTA’s new policy of restricting political ads, or appeal this decision now directly to the Second Circuit. As I said publicly after the court’s ruling Friday, we have no intention to allow any grass to grow under this ruling. We filed our notice of appeal this morning.”
Robert Muise, AFLC Co-Founder and Senior Counsel, added,
“This appeal is important for all freedom loving Americans because the government should not be permitted to violate the First Amendment and then on the heels of an adverse court decision simply modify its rules to avoid the consequences of its unlawful behavior.”
Muise continued,
“If we can’t get the Second Circuit to protect the First Amendment through this appeal, then we will consider Supreme Court review. This issue is that important.”
AFLC has now won two federal lawsuits against the MTA, one against the Washington, D.C. transit authority, and one against the Philadelphia transit authority on behalf of its clients, Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, and AFDI. Cases are still pending in Detroit, Boston, and Seattle.
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15 Comments
8 years ago
Good for you Ms. Geller. Go for it.
8 years ago
Hmm… does disqus allow for animated gifs? I wonder…
8 years ago
Let’s find out!
8 years ago
Oh yes… a new world of opportunities is dawning >:D
8 years ago
Troll Alert…..Please do not feed the Troll.
8 years ago
It’s too bad you can’t get any monetary compensation from these islamic-nazi tools for trampling on your civil rights and liberties. Go get ’em.
8 years ago
Some time hit the pamelageller Find Here
8 years ago
Of course, the ads in Islamic countries are ok. Because. No 1st Amendment. America follows.
8 years ago
Your first choice pamelageller Find Here
…………
8 years ago
It seems that you have excellent counsels. We will continue to pray that the appeal will succeed and that your ads may go forward in New York City.
8 years ago
Re: “A federal court in New York City in effect ruled Tuesday the city bus system could indeed ban political advertising deemed offensive,”
SUBJECTIVELY “DEEMED OFFENSIVE?” BY WHOM?!
Charles Moerdler, one board member who supported the ban, said then: “Hateful speech with its odious appeal to intolerance is the incendiary that ignites violence. It does not take much to move the passions of hatred. … Our riders and the public need not have their safety or serenity violated,” the New York Daily News reported.
SO: APPEALING TO INTOLERANCE (OF CRIME) WITH CRIME-HATING SPEECH IS “ODIOUS” TO THIS LITTLE MAN, BECAUSE IT “IGNITES PASSIONATE, (CRIME-HATING) VIOLENCE” – SO IT’S MUCH BETTER FOR PASSENGERS TO SERENELY SUBMIT (TO CRIME) IN ORDER TO REMAIN “SAFE” FROM IT! (“WHEE!”).
“The judge said:“No law requires public transit agencies to accept political advertisements as a matter of course, and it is not for this court to impose its own views on what type of forum the MTA should create.”
IS THE MTA A PRIVATE COMPANY, OR A GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRACY?
Pamela Geller was recently asked, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXq7VK1xGtQ&lc=z12sgxcqhsjaynvsk22rxpjw1qmehrjkx
“Is there anything which ought to qualify as hate speech and be banned?”
NO – not because it’s “hateful” (because that sort of nonsense is only making subjective assessments based on emotions;) and “HATE” is really only the perfectly natural human response of perpetual anger towards ongoing crimes (like islam); without ‘hate’ we would never bother to accuse criminals of their crimes in order to stop those crimes.
Unreasonable false displays of hatred and anger on the other hand, are what the Left is good at – but that’s already illegal, not because of the anger displayed, that’s just the packaging, but because it’s fraudulent slander.
Such criminal leftists who try to make “hate” into a crime, only ever make it ‘illegal’ to hate crime itself!
Speech which is already disallowed is incitement of immediate violence and death-threats… and even those aren’t illegal, if say they call for the police to use violence to counter ongoing mob violence and looting, or call for the death-penalty for murderers!!!
8 years ago
Judge John G. Koeltl, You Don’t Understand The Issue While You “Claimed that Muslims in New York might understand the Ad to be advocating violence and would therefore incite them to murder Jews as Islamic worship, was unconstitutional”.
YOU GOT IT ALL WRONG MR. JUDGE, It’s NOT “The AD” That INCITE MUSLIMS TO “KILL” JEWS, IT’S THE KORAN (Teachings Of Muhammad) That Advocate Violence And Incite Them (Muslims) TO MURDER JEWS!
By Your Own Standard Judge John G. Koeltl, You Should ADD The Koran & Hadith “UNCONSTITUTIONAL” As Well:
Ibn ‘Umar reported Allah’s Messenger [Muhammad] (pbuh) as saying: You will fight against the Jews and you (Muslims) will Kill Them until even a stone would say: COME HERE, MUSLIM, THERE IS A JEW (HIDING HIMSELF BEHIND ME); KILL HIM.
Sahih Muslim, Book 041, Number 6981
This (Above) Is Hate Speech And It Advocate Violence Period! Case Close!
