D.C. Metro Sued for Rejecting Ads, Including for Milo's Book

The American Civil Liberties Union -- known to fight for the rights of minorities as well as freedom of speech -- filed suit against Washington, D.C.'s public transportation agency for rejecting ads from four different groups, claiming it violated the First Amendment in doing so.

One of the advertisers in the suit is the publisher of Dangerous, the latest book from Milo Yiannopoulos, a former Breitbart editor and online troll who made a name for himself by bullying actress Leslie Jones and espousing the Islamophoblic policies of Donald Trump; Yiannopoulos has faded from public view after he was caught defending pedophilia.

The other rejected ads include those from the ACLU, which displayed the First Amendment in English, Spanish, and Arabic; a women's health care collective called Carafem that was promoting a "10-Week-After Pill"; and several PETA spots that suggested people give up consuming animal products. The Dangerous book ad was first accepted by Metro but removed from D.C.'s trains and buses after many riders complained.

Metro adopted new rules against controversial advertising in 2015, following a scandal involving virulently anti-Muslim ads. The ACLU lawsuit wants the policy overturned, claiming it's too arbitrary and unconstitutionally vague, in addition to violating free speech rights.

"The four plaintiffs in this case perfectly illustrate the indivisibility of the First Amendment," Lee Rowland, ACLU staff attorney, said in a statement ."In its zeal to avoid hosting offensive and hateful speech, the government has eliminated speech that makes us think, including the text of the First Amendment itself. The ACLU could not more strongly disagree with the values that Milo Yiannopoulos espouses, but we can't allow the government to pick and choose which viewpoints are acceptable."