While attending the March for Life, some pro-life protestors also visited the National Archives and the National Air and Space Museum. Security guards at both facilities told them to cover up or remove their hats and shirts with pro-life slogans.
The National Archives houses the Constitution of the United States, mind you, which enshrines the protection of free speech in the First Amendment, especially from the federal government.
Security guards employed by the federal government working at a federal building would be a prime example of someone who cannot legally abridge free speech.
Now a lawsuit has been filed over the matter.
The plaintiffs in the suits are being represented by lawyers from the American Center for Law & Justice, a conservative, Christian organization.
The suit against the Air and Space Museum said the nearly dozen Catholic plaintiffs were students, parents or chaperones of Our Lady of the Rosary Church and School in Greenville, South Carolina.
One of the security guards allegedly said,
Y'all are about to make my day. You've been told multiple times to take your hats off, and you have not taken them off. You need to take them off or leave.
One of the students communicated to a friend via Snapchat:
He told me to take off my pro-life pin as I was standing next to the constitution that literally says Freedom of Speech on it.
When reminded of the First Amendment, the guard replied, "that doesn't apply here."
The National Archives and the Smithsonian both issued statements apologizing for the incident.
The National Archives said,
"As the home to the original Constitution and Bill of Rights, which enshrine the rights of free speech and religion, we sincerely apologize for this occurrence.
"NARA policy expressly allows all visitors to wear t-shirts, hats, buttons, etc. that display protest language, including religious and political speech," the statement said. "We are actively investigating to determine what happened."
The Smithsonian wrote,
A security officer mistakenly told young visitors that their pro-life hats were not permitted in the museum. Asking visitors to remove hats and clothing is not in keeping with our policy or protocols. We provided immediate retraining to prevent a re-occurrence of this kind of error.
The Smithsonian welcomes all visitors without regard to their beliefs. We do not deny access to our museums based on the messages on visitors' clothing.
While it is good to see the two federal institutes back down, it still really shows how far education has slipped in Washington D.C.
I can't imagine standing next to the founding documents every day and not being able to understand them.
