Patrons enter the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum for the reopening of the museum’s West End Gallery to the public on the National Mall on October 14, 2022 in Washington, USA.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
of National Air and Space Museum They agreed to settle the case in Washington, DC. lawsuit When a group of students, parents and chaperones from a South Carolina Catholic school visited the school last year, security guards told them to remove hats with anti-abortion messages on them, a court filing said Monday. This was revealed in the documents.
The federally funded museum has agreed to pay a total of $50,000 to more than a dozen plaintiffs to settle the lawsuit, according to a filing in the U.S. District Court in Washington. Payment also includes attorney’s fees.
The proposed settlement also requires the director of the Smithsonian Institution to give the plaintiffs a tour of the institution’s largest facility and to apologize to the plaintiffs for the actions of the security guards on January 20, 2023. I’m looking for it. Say.
And the Smithsonian Institution agreed to notify security personnel at all museums and the National Zoo about its policy allowing hats and clothing with messages “containing religious and political speech.”
The settlement will take place four months later. national archives A Washington museum agreed to pay $10,000 to a small group of plaintiffs to settle a similar lawsuit.
Plaintiffs in the case also had to hide clothing with “pro-life” messages from security guards at the National Archives on January 20, 2023, or leave the federally-run facility. was ordered.
Patrons visit the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum for the reopening of the museum’s West End Gallery to the public on the National Mall on October 14, 2022 in Washington, USA.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
The incidents at both museums on the Mall in Washington occurred on the same day as the anti-abortion March for Life in the nation’s capital, which the plaintiffs in both cases were participating in.
More than a dozen plaintiffs from Our Lady of the Rosary Church and School in Greenville, South Carolina, wore blue hats emblazoned with “Rosary Pro-Life” as they visited the Air and Space Museum.
Security guards at various locations within the museum instructed members of the group to remove their hats, according to the complaint.
“Guys, it’s almost over,” one security guard told several complainants, adding, “I’ve been told many times to take off my hat, but I haven’t. I need to take it off.” That’s what it means. Leave. “
The guard also allegedly said the First Amendment “doesn’t apply here.”
In fact, neither the museum nor the National Archives bans patrons based on messages in their clothing due to First Amendment free speech protections.
Both museums apologized for the actions of their security guards toward the plaintiffs after the lawsuit was filed in February last year.
A spokesperson for the American Law and Justice Center, a conservative Christian group that represented plaintiffs in both lawsuits, had no immediate comment on the settlement.
When asked for comment, a spokesperson for the National Air and Space Museum referred reporters to court filings detailing the settlement.
The Justice Department, which defended the museum in the lawsuit, declined to comment.
