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6th Circuit Upholds Michigan's Exclusion of Biblical Quotes From Advocate Directory

By Howard M. Friedman

In Grosjean v. Bommarito, (6th Cir., Dec. 4, 2008), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected free speech, free exercise, overbreadth and vagueness challenges to the editorial practices of Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency in its listing of advocates available to assist claimants. Advocates are private contractors paid by the state to furnish free advice and representation to claimants in their appeals of rulings on unemployment benefits.

The Agency removed Biblical quotations that plaintiffs wished to include in their profiles that UIA sent out to claimants. Clients had previously been attracted to plaintiffs because of those references. The court held that the current compilation, using a required template that limits the form and style of biographical information presented, is government speech. So UIA can make content-based choices to limit published information to narrow professional biographical data. An earlier, more open-ended version, of the listings arguably were not government speech. However they were a non-public forum, in which the UIA could impose reasonable, content-based regulation. (See prior related posting.)

Full post as published by Religion Clause on December 09, 2008 (boomark / email).