Blogger gets boost in effort to put pro-Israel ads on NYC buses
NEW YORK — An anti-Islam activist has won a preliminary round in her First Amendment fight to place New York City bus ads calling enemies of Israel “savages.”
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan said he agreed with blogger Pamela Geller that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority should not have rejected Geller’s ad.
“The Court agrees that that advertising standard, as presently written, violates the First Amendment,” Engelmayer wrote in American Freedom Defense Initiative v. MTA.
Geller, executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, publishes a blog called Atlas Shrugged that warns of growing “Islamization.”
The MTA rejected the group’s bus ad. Its standard says ads should not demean individuals or groups based on race, religion or other protected categories.
Engelmayer granted a preliminary injunction on July 20 barring the MTA from enforcing the standard. The MTA says it’s reviewing the decision.
A conference in the case is scheduled for Aug. 29.
Tags: advertising, Islam, Israel, New York City, transit ad
The First Amendment Center is an educational organization and cannot provide legal advice.
Ken Paulson is president and chief executive officer of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and in Washington, D.C. Previously, Paulson served as the editor and senior vice president/news of USA Today.
Gene Policinski, senior vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center and president and chief operating officer of the Diversity Institute, is a veteran journalist whose career has included work in newspapers, radio, television and online.
John Seigenthaler founded the First Amendment Center in 1991 with the mission of creating national discussion, dialogue and debate about First Amendment rights and values.
Dr. Charles C. Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum. He writes and speaks extensively on religious liberty and religion in American public life.
David L. Hudson Jr. is an expert in First Amendment issues who writes for firstamendmentcenter.org and for other publications. Hudson teaches law and was a scholar at the First Amendment Center.
Tiffany Villager is director/First Amendment studies at the First Amendment Center, which she joined in 1993. She also served as the center’s research manager and research coordinator, and developed the center’s library.
