Young Israel of Tampa v. Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART)

    Each Year, Young Israel of Tampa holds multiple different religious events to promote and celebrate the Jewish Culture that engages the growing community. These events primarily revolve around Passover and Chanukah that usually take place in the Spring and the month of December respectfully. For the 2020 celebration of Chanukah, Rabbi Rivkin of Young Israel of Tampa wanted to grow interest and popularity for their holiday event of "Chanukah on Ice" through the advertising venue of the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART). HART received the request for the advertisement (included image) from Rabbi Rivkin which they then proceeded to send back with substantial alterations that effectively removed the Jewish and religious nature from the ad. This denial of advertising was due to HART's prohibition against “advertisements that primarily promote a religious faith or religious organization". HART executives refused to run this ad due to this policy that prohibited religious orientated messages placing it in the same category as alcohol, drugs, violence, and pornography. Young Israel of Tampa believed that this policy breached their constitutional rights of the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. In addition, Young Israel was surprised by the policy due to HART's inconsistent method of regulating its advertisements when it comes to promoting religious messages. HART permitted St. Leo University, a Catholic University, to use their venues to advertise their school. They also approved the Center for American Islamic Relations to use their advertising to promote their #MyJihad campaign. Finally, they ran advertisements for Alcoholics Anonymous that promoted their twelve step program that placed God's forgiveness at the center of their mission. Young Israel thought this advertising strategy would be effective due to the growing Jewish community in Tampa as well as one of HART's bus lines having a major stop at the arena they were going to hold the event. COVID-19 forced Young Israel to cancel their "Chanukah on Ice" for 2020 but they are pursuing the ability to promote their event for 2021. Young Israel filed a lawsuit against HART on February 5th, 2021 in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Young Israel Ad

    This case addresses the Free Speech and Free Exercise of Religion Clause in the First Amendment due to the policy of censoring religious messages in a limited public forum. This policy is geared at the protected rights of individuals to express and exercise their religious beliefs and messages. HART's policy is discriminatory and restrictive to religious messaging on government property and the public forum. This case deals with the acceptance of religion in the public forum as a whole and the decision could be critical in the ability for religiously motivated individuals or organizations to share their views and beliefs with the public world. A case that holds precedence in this situation is Rosenberger v. University of Virginia (1995) where a student asked for funding from the student activity fee to subsidize the publishing costs of a Christian magazine. The court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the University's denial of funding was unconstitutional due to viewpoint discrimination. Reasoning behind this decision was the substantial financial burden that the student was incurring from their religious beliefs similar to the burden that Young Israel is experiencing with this denial advertising space.

    I believe that the HART prohibition policy of religious messages is unconstitutional and Young Israel of Tampa should be permitted to advertise their annual "Chanukah on Ice" event along with the other events they want to promote throughout the year. This policy lacks facial neutrality and is directly discriminatory against religious beliefs that are protected by the First Amendment. Allowing advertisements of religious organizations is not coercive and declining their presence to avoid offense of any riders is not sufficient enough to remove them. This does not provide an endorsement or advancement of views. This places an undue burden on Young Israel with no compelling state interest to deny their group the opportunity to advertise their religious event. These advertisements present no inherent problem or danger to society, rather it promotes unity among a group in Tampa allowing for religious participation. In addition, HART has permitted the advertising of religious organizations along with multiple Christmas campaigns such as "Stuff-a-bus" prior to Young Israel's request exposing the inconsistency in their determination of what is fit and what is not when it comes to their facilities' advertising capabilities. Prohibiting the free exercise of religion solely based on beliefs is never permissible due to the protection that the First Amendment affords individuals. This targeting of religious viewpoints is dangerous towards the presence of religion in the public sphere moving forward. This censorship can bar all individual religious beliefs and must be upheld by the First Amendment rights stated in the Constitution.