Editor's note: The Associated Press reported Jan. 9 that U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman had dismissed Gail Anderson's lawsuit, agreeing with the county's position that the policy against distributing literature aboard public transportation was reasonable because it "furthers passenger safety and comfort."
MILWAUKEE — A passenger who said she was escorted off a public bus for giving a Bible to another rider has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn a transit policy prohibiting distribution of any literature.
Gail Anderson, 56, had been offering the Bible to fellow passengers since she began riding the bus regularly in mid-1999, according to a complaint filed this week in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee.
On one occasion during the summer of 2002, Anderson offered the Bible to those seated around her, but the bus driver told her to stop, the complaint said. After she failed to comply, Anderson said the driver ordered her off the Milwaukee County Transit System bus.
Bus riders are banned from distributing any form of advertising or literature, according to the transit policy.
Milwaukee County Corporation Counsel William J. Domina said the policy is rooted in safety.
“This is a mobile vehicle where people are in seats. Having people moving around handing out material is unsafe,” Domina said. “I think it would be treated the same whether it was Bibles or cookbooks. It’s not a content issue.”
Anderson and her attorneys from the nonprofit Liberty Counsel, of Orlando, Fla., say the policy banning distribution of any literature on buses is unconstitutionally broad and gives drivers unfettered discretion to determine what material may be distributed.
“It’s natural for people to pass things back and forth to each other,” said Liberty Counsel president and general counsel Mathew D. Staver. “A public transportation system cannot ban all literature.”
Staver said Anderson met the bus rider in casual conversation and the person was interested in the Bible, so she gave her one.
“We are not taking the position that people can pass out literature to people that don’t want it,” he said.
The lawsuit names the Milwaukee County Department of Public Works-Transit Division, Milwaukee County Transit System and Milwaukee Transport Services, Inc. as defendants. Besides temporary and permanent relief from the policy, the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Liberty Counsel attorneys said Anderson contacted them a few months after the incident, and it took them several months to verify her claims. She declined comment through the group.
Liberty Counsel is the same group that sued the Kenosha Unified School District and Tremper High School’s principal after students were banned from distributing religious literature and from painting a religious symbol on a hallway mural. A federal appeals court dismissed that lawsuit last year.