Bus ad content ruled protected speech by panel

By Patricia Manson Law Bulletin staff writer

Posted June 23, 2016 2:35 PM

A federal appeals court Wednesday cleared the way for a healthcare referral service to post an “innocuous” public service advertisement on buses in Fort Wayne, Ind.The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held the city’s Public Transportation Corp., or Citilink, violated the First Amendment when it refused to take the ad from Women’s Health Link Inc.Health Link is a nonprofit referral service that is opposed to abortion rights.Citilink rejected Health Link’s ad based on a rule forbidding public …

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