Visitors enter the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum for the public reopening of the museum’s West End galleries on the National Mall in Washington, United States, October 14, 2022.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by a group of students, parents and chaperones at a Catholic school in South Carolina who were told by security guards to remove hats with an anti-abortion message during a visit there last year, a court filing revealed Monday.
The federally funded museum agreed to pay the more than a dozen plaintiffs a total of $50,000 to settle the lawsuit, according to the filing in U.S. District Court in Washington. The payment includes legal fees.
The settlement also requires the museum’s director to give the plaintiffs a tour of the facility, the Smithsonian Institution’s largest museum, and for the director to apologize to them for the guards’ actions on Jan. 20, 2023, the statement said File says.
And the Smithsonian agreed to inform security staff at all of its museums and the National Zoo that it allows hats and other clothing with messages, “including religious and political speech.”
The settlement comes four months after the National Archives Museum in Washington agreed to pay $10,000 to a smaller group of plaintiffs and settle a similar lawsuit.
The plaintiffs in this case were told by National Archives guards to either cover clothing with “pro-life” messages or leave the federally operated facility, also on January 20, 2023.
Visitors visit the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum for the public reopening of the museum’s West End galleries on the National Mall in Washington, United States, October 14, 2022.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
The incidents at both museums along the Mall in Washington occurred on the same day as the anti-abortion March for Life in the US capital, in which the plaintiffs each took part
The dozen or so plaintiffs from Our Lady of Rosary Church and School in Greenville, South Carolina, wore blue hats that read “Rosary Pro-Life” as they visited the Air and Space Museum.
According to her lawsuit, guards at various locations in the museum asked members of the group to remove their hats.
A guard allegedly told several plaintiffs, “You’re going to make my day now,” adding, “You were told multiple times to take off your hats and you didn’t take them off.” You have to take them off or leave.”
This guard also reportedly said that the First Amendment “does not apply here.”
In fact, due to First Amendment free speech protections, this museum and the National Archives do not exclude visitors because of messages on their clothing.
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Both museums apologized for their security guards’ behavior toward the plaintiffs after the lawsuits were filed in February last year.
A spokesman for the American Center for Law & Justice, the conservative Christian organization that represented the plaintiffs in both lawsuits, had no immediate comment on the latest settlement.
When reached for comment, a spokeswoman for the National Air & Space Museum referred a reporter to the court filing with details of the settlement.
The Justice Department, which defended the museum in the lawsuit, declined to comment.
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2024-03-18 22:45:43
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