Ala. AG supporting Fla. synagogue’s Supreme Court suit over religious freedom

From Young Israel of Tampa’s 2020 Chanukah on Ice event

The rejection by a state agency of a Florida synagogue’s advertisement for a “Chanukah on Ice” event has resulted in a Supreme Court case supported by more than half of America’s states on the grounds of religious freedom.

A coalition of 26 states joined to advocate on July 5 for Young Israel of Tampa, which wanted to place ads for a holiday gathering, after the Hillsborough County Transit Authority denied such on the grounds of a “no religious speech” advertising policy.

The authority, however, had accepted a similar ad for a “Winter Village” event with no religious mention.

Young Israel is a Chabad center under the direction of Rabbi Uriel Rivkin.

“By unlawfully denying a Jewish synagogue’s proposed holiday advertisement solely because it was religious, the transit authority brazenly targeted religious speech as the object of its discrimination,” stated Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who is spearheading the coalition.

He said the coalition “recognizes that such discrimination is a direct attack on the First Amendment, and we look forward to continuing our support of Young Israel.”

Alabama had previously organized two multistate briefs in support of Young Israel at the Eleventh Circuit court.

John M. Formella, attorney general of New Hampshire, called the goal of the case to uphold “religious liberty and the fundamental rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.”

The policy of the transit authority, he said, “to censor religious speech while allowing similar non-religious speech is not only discriminatory but also unconstitutional. The government has no place in determining which religious viewpoints can be expressed in public forums.”

The attempt to place the ad was in 2020. Young Israel filed suit in February 2021. In January 2024, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the District Court for the Middle District of Florida, which issued summary judgment in favor of Young Israel in January 2022 citing viewpoint discrimination and how the transit authority’s policy did not have workable standards and was inconsistently applied.

The guideline, adopted in 2013, prohibits ads that “primarily promote a religious faith or religious organization,” without defining “religious” or “primarily promote.” There was no history of problems due to religious ads, but in 2013 there were “limited complaints” over a Council on American-Islamic Relations ad, but no disruptions or vandalism occurred.

The ruling sent ordered the transit authority to come up with a more workable guideline, but the groups of AGs said that the ruling would allow the authority to come up with more consistent guidelines against religious ads, while the objective should be to end such discrimination altogether. Therefore, they are asking for a Supreme Court review, as there are many other transit authorities with similar guidelines.

The 24 other supporting states included Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

From JNS and staff reporting.