A group is suing D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser for allegedly violating the first amendment. They claim having “Black Lives Matter” painted on a city street shows preference to one belief over another.
The first amendment prohibits government action that favors one religion over another. The plaintiffs argue the mayor used taxpayer money to promote one faith—or belief—over another.
The complaint comes about a week after she ordered city workers to paint the words in large yellow letters near the White House, and renamed that section of the street “Black Lives Matter Plaza.”
The lawsuit’s plaintiffs are a pastor, a former military judge, and a D.C. lobbyist. The plaintiffs have asked the court to order the mayor to display other banners on the street—such as “Blue Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter.”
They say that way she would not be showing favoritism to a particular group.
Bowser said that, like all of the city’s public art, the banner stays.