A lawsuit alleges that a civic association and its director’s constitutional rights of free speech and equal protection under the law were violated by the denial of an application to raise the Christian flag during a celebration at Boston City Hall. Image courtesy of Liberty Counsel Aug. 9 (UPI) — A civic association and its director are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that rejected their request to fly a Christian flag on a Boston City Hall flagpole. Harold Shurtleff and Camp Constitution allege in a lawsuit that their constitutional rights of free speech and equal protection under the law were violated by the denial of an application to raise the flag during a September 2017 celebration of Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. Their event was designed to commemorate the contributions of the Christian community to Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A Boston official has said the refusal was based on a policy to refrain from flying non-secular flags on its pole in accordance with the First Amendment’s prohibition of government establishment of religion. But Shurtleff, an association co-founder and a former Boston resident who now lives in New Hampshire, said Camp Constitution is not […]
