A California artist is suing the state for blocking the display at a Fresno fair last year of a painting showing a Confederate flag. A 2014 state law bans the display of the Confederate flag on state property. The lawsuit holds that, applied to private citizens, the law violates the First Amendment. (The Fresno Bee, August 27, 2016, by Pablo Lopez)
In passing the law, state legislators expressed an interest in stifling expression that promotes racism and exclusion and inspires oppression or violence. But the lawyers for the artist contend, “Even limitations of speech that appear facially reasonable are unconstitutional if ‘a regulation … is in fact based on the desire to suppress a particular point of view. … If the evidence reflects that this is the motivation or intent of the government in enacting the regulation, the regulation is viewpoint discriminatory.'” (The Washington Post, September 1, 2016, by Eugene Volokh)