Shurtleff v. City of Boston
Description: Harold Shurtleff, the director of an organization called Camp Constitution, sued the city of Boston after it excluded a Christian flag from its City Hall flagpole program, which allowed a wide variety of other flags to be flown.
US Supreme Court rules Boston can't exclude Christian flag when allowing other flags
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Monday in Shurtleff v. City of Boston, a case in which the city of Boston excluded a Christian flag from its City Hall flagpole program, which allowed a wide variety of other flags to be flown:
“When city officials open a program or activity to ‘all applicants,’ they cannot exclude those wishing to express religious beliefs. The city of Boston’s exclusion of religious expression from an otherwise wide-open public program amounted to discrimination based on viewpoint and is therefore unconstitutional. That said, this case is about much more than displaying a Christian flag at City Hall; this is about the protection of our First Amendment rights, which extend equally to all Americans, without government punishment. We are pleased the Supreme Court has upheld the right of religious citizens to participate in the public square.”
ADF attorneys and lead counsel at Baker & Hostetler, LLP, filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the high court on behalf of Bronx Household of Faith. ADF attorneys represented the inner-city New York City church for more than 20 years in its own legal battle to continue renting an otherwise empty public school building on Sundays for the church’s weekly worship service.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
# # #
Legal Documents
Related Resources
ABOUT John Bursch
John Bursch is senior counsel and vice president of appellate advocacy with Alliance Defending Freedom. Bursch has argued 12 U.S. Supreme Court cases and more than 30 state supreme court cases since 2011, and a recent study concluded that among all frequent Supreme Court advocates who did not work for the federal government, he had the 3rd highest success rate for persuading justices to adopt his legal position. Bursch served as solicitor general for the state of Michigan from 2011-2013. He has argued multiple Michigan Supreme Court cases in eight of the last ten terms and has successfully litigated hundreds of matters nationwide, including six with at least $1 billion at stake. As part of his private firm, Bursch Law PLLC, he has represented Fortune 500 companies, foreign and domestic governments, top public officials, and industry associations in high-profile cases, primarily on appeal. He received his J.D. magna cum laude in 1997 from the University of Minnesota Law School and is admitted to practice in numerous federal district and appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.