Do road signs constitute government speech?
That was the question before the state's top court on Monday, which is being asked to decide whether a North Georgia chapter of the Ku Klux Klan should be allowed to pick up trash along a state highway and then get credit for it through the Adopt-A-Highway Program.
The Georgia Supreme Court is weighing whether state Department of Transportation signs recognizing participation in the highway cleanup program represent “government speech” or are instead an expression of free speech by individuals protected by the First Amendment.
The state’s lawyers say the public, driving by the signs along highways, see them as a messages from Georgia. They argue erecting one recognizing the work of the Klan could be perceived as an endorsement of the group’s beliefs.
“Georgia maintains strict control over messages in the GDOT Adopt a Highway Program,” said Assistant Attorney General Brittany Bolton. “No logos are allowed. Each sign is identical except for the name of the sponsor…. The signs in this program constitute government speech.”
What goes on them is not to be treated as an individual’s message.
But Alan Begner, who the American Civil Liberties Union asked to represent the International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, said the signs are not unlike the postings on interstate exit ramps directing drivers to restaurants, gas stations and motels.
“We have a name (on the signs). No message,” Begner said.
The standoff began in 2012 when April and Harley Hanson, who calls himself the grand cyclops of the Klan chapter, filed an application on behalf of the International Keystone Knights of the KKK to clean up the stretch of Georgia Highway 515.
In a prior interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Steve Chamson, a member of the Keystone Knights said, "We just wanted to do something good. It was a way to do something in a more visible way."
Union County officials gave the group reflective vests and trash bags so they could begin cleaning the one-mile stretch of roadway but then rescinded the approval, saying it was the state’s decision to make. The GDOT commissioner wrote the Hansons with the news that the Klan’s application was rejected because the KKK’s “long-rooted history of civil disturbance” presented the “potential for civil unrest.”
“Erecting an (Adopt-A-Highway) Program sign with the KKK’s name on it would have the effect of erecting a sign announcing that ‘the State of Georgia has declared this area Klan Country. Such a statement is absurd and would date this state back decades,” GDOT lawyers wrote.
Begner said, “that’s the worst reason to give.”
It was the only time an application has been rejected since the program started in 1989.
Information on the program says “any organization, business, individual, family, city, county, state or federal agency is welcome to apply for participation.” All that is required is that each group have at least six members, with three backup members. There are no other rules and GDOT does not have an administrative process for appeal if anyone is denied.
GDOT notified the media of it's decision on the same day the Hansons got the state's rejection letter. It became a national story and fodder late-night comedy skits. For example, Jay Leno to tweeted: "KKK wants to join Georgia's Adopt-A-Highway for litter removal. So you're just replacing litter w/white trash."
“You don’t have to have any qualifications to have a sign except (to claim) you’re environmentally conscious,” Begner told the justices. “They (GDOT) violated our rights.”
The suit has not gone to trial but a Fulton County judge ruled that Georgia had violated the Klan’s free speech right. The state appealed that ruling. It also wants the high state court to decide if a lawsuit against GDOT could even be brought on the basis that the state is shielded from lawsuits because of “sovereign immunity.”
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