Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign v. King County, No. 11-35914 (9th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseThe Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC), a non-profit organization opposed to United States support for Israel, submitted an advertisement to run on King County Metro buses in the Seattle metropolitan area that opposed the United States government’s financial support for Israel. King County initially accepted the ad but then revoked its approval, concluding that displaying the ad would likely result in violence disruptive to the bus system. SeaMAC sued the County under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging a violation of its First Amendment rights. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the County, concluding that Metro’s bus advertising program created a limited public forum and that the County’s decision to reject the ad was reasonable and viewpoint neutral. The Ninth Circuit affirmed, holding (1) King County created a limited public forum when it opened the sides of Metro buses to advertising from outside speakers; and (2) the County’s exclusion of SeaMAC’s proposed ad was both reasonable and viewpoint neutral and thus did not violate the First Amendment.
Court Description: Civil Rights. The panel affirmed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of King County, and dismissed as moot the County’s conditional cross appeal in an action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign alleging a violation of its First Amendment rights. The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign, a non-profit organization whose goal is to bring attention to Israeli- Palestinian relations, proposed to display an advertisement opposing the United States government’s financial support for Israel on King County Metro buses in the Seattle metropolitan area. After initially accepting the ad, the County revoked its approval, concluding that displaying the ad would likely result in vandalism and violence disruptive SEATTLE MIDEAST AWARENESS CAMPAIGN V. KING CNTY. 3 to the bus system. The panel first held that King County created a limited public forum when it opened the sides of Metro buses to advertising from outside speakers. The panel then held that the County’s decision to reject the ad was both reasonable and viewpoint neutral, and thus did not violate the First Amendment. Dissenting, Judge Christen stated that in her view the County’s policy and practice unmistakably demonstrated an intent to create a designated public forum on its Metro bus exteriors. Judge Christen would remand for the district court to determine in the first instance whether genuine issues of material fact existed under the appropriate level of scrutiny, i.e., whether the County’s safety concerns justified cancellation of the ad.
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