"Black Lives Matter" is painted before the Vermont State House, in the capital city of Montpelier.  On July 7, the City Council rejected an application to paint "Liberty and Justice for All" beside the "Black Lives Matter" street painting, imputing racist motives to the applicant.  The city claimed that it was exercising "government speech" — that the BLM message was not that of the private citizens who had applied for and painted the street mural, but that of the city of Montpelier. This magical invocation of a "government speech" exception to basic free speech protections sprang into existence after the BLM message was created.  It is clear that the City Council concocted this shallow legal shield in direct opposition to the application to paint "Liberty and Justice for All."  Particularly strange, the city councilors claim that the statehouse (and the...(Read Full Post)