Whether WMATA's policy of refusing to accept advertisements that promote or oppose religion or reflect a religious perspective violates the First Amendment

QUESTION PRESENTED As the 2017 Advent season was approaching, the Archdiocese of Washington sought to advertise its “Find the Perfect Gift” campaign on the exterior of the public buses operated by the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (“WMATA”). _ Its proposed advertisement depicted the silhouette of three shepherds and sheep accompanied by the simple text: “Find the Perfect Gift.” While WMATA accepts a wide variety of advertisements for display on its buses—including all manner’ of “secular” advertisements addressing Christmas and charitable giving—it refused to run the Archdiocese’s advertisement because it has an express policy prohibiting advertisements that promote or oppose religion or reflect a religious perspective. This Court has three times rejected comparable government efforts to suppress speech addressing topics from a_ religious perspective. See Good News Club v. Milford Cent. Sch., 533 U.S. 98 (2001); Rosenberger v. Rector & Visitors of Univ. of Va., 515 U.S. 819 (1995); Lamb’s Chapel v. Ctr. Moriches Union Free Sch. Dist., 508 U.S. 384 (1993). Yet the D.C. Circuit nonetheless concluded that WMATA’s no-religious-speech policy violates neither the First Amendment nor the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The questions presented are: 1. Whether WMATA’s policy of refusing to accept advertisements that promote or oppose religion or reflect a religious perspective violates the First Amendment. ii 2. Whether that discrimination against religious speech violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.