Shurtleff v. City of Boston |
Instructions and Purpose of Survey
We are asking all IMLA members to respond quickly to a brief online survey. Doing so will assist IMLA in representing municipal interests by filing an amicus brief in Shurtleff v. City of Boston, a case in which the United States Supreme Court recently granted cert. At issue is whether municipal display of a flag a private party requests be flown on a city flag pole is government speech or creates a public forum for private display of flags which once created may require the city to fly flags whose symbol or message the city does not endorse. There are only a few short questions to this survey. Please reply as soon as possible; we need your response by November 19, 2021.
Survey Directions:
- If you represent more than one municipality, please choose one on which to base your answers, giving preference to the one on which you have the most information relevant here.
- Please complete only those questions regarding which you have personal knowledge or other reliable evidence. You do not need to answer all questions to provide helpful information.
- Please provide narrative information where available and responsive.
- For every question, please check all that apply.
- The term “flag” as used herein includes the ordinary meaning of the term and refers to a symbol which conveys or tends to convey some communicative message.
-Other terms used herein include "street mural" or "crosswalk painting" that include messages or symbolic paintings; "pole banners" have their ordinary meaning; "bulletin boards" include fixed message boards and digital message boards on which a municipality may post messages; "street banners" are banners strung across rights of way and for purposes of this survey each of these terms mean forms of communication adopted or approved by a municipality for use on its property and intended to convey a message.
- The term “private person” as used herein includes organizations.
- The term “municipality” as used herein includes cities, counties, special districts, towns, townships and affiliated governmental or quasi-governmental agencies, such as park districts and public building commissions.