Remove the menorah: Supreme Court skirts debate about a Chanukah ad on a Florida bus
WASHNGTON − An orthodox Jewish synagogue in Florida was told it couldn’t advertise its 2020 “Chanukah on Ice” event to bus riders unless it removed references to the menorah.
A federal appeals court said the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority's policy was unreasonable but declined to say whether all restrictions on religious ads are unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined an opportunity to weigh in, despite the sympathy the conservative majority has shown in recent years to claims of religious discrimination.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing Young Israel of Tampa, said the Supreme Court needs to resolve the issue. Some lower courts have said there is no such thing as a “reasonable” ban on religious speech, while others say there can be objective standards, the group’s lawyers told the court.
More than two dozen transit systems ban religious ads, according to the Becket Fund.
“These bans stifle religious speech and are flagrantly unconstitutional,” they wrote.