The Georgia Supreme Court handed the Ku Klux Klan a victory Tuesday, rejecting a state effort to block a chapter of the racist organization from participating in the state’s Adopt-A-Highway program.
The justices said they had no jurisdiction over the case because state lawyers did not follow the proper procedure for appealing Fulton Superior Court Judge Shawn LaGrua’s decision in favor of International Keystone Knights of the KKK. LaGrua ruled in late 2014 that the Georgia Department of Transportation had violated the Klan’s free speech rights when it rejected a chapter’s application to clean up a stretch of Georgia 515 in Union County. The reason GDOT ultimately cited was the Klan’s history of racially divisive positions.
According to Kathleen Burch — the attorney for the Georgia Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union which represented the Klan in the case — the International Keystone Knights could now collect their reflective vests and trash bags and begin picking up trash. The only problem? The state has stopped taking applications for the program in the wake of the controversy.
“We are pleased that the trial court’s order stands, allowing the KKK to participate in this program,” Burch said. “It’s a free speech case. The government cannot limit participation in a government program to those it prefers. The government must allow all to participate on an equal basis.”
GDOT referred calls for comment to the State Attorney General’s Office. In a statement, the attorney general said the office was still reviewing the decision and “considering our options,” and there would be no further comment “because the matter is still pending before the courts.”
When the high state court agreed to hear the case earlier this year, it was hoped the justices would answer several key questions: does a road sign constitute government speech and can the government can be sued, a concept known a sovereign immunity?
Instead, the court sidestepped those issues.
The Supreme Court said Monday it does not have "appellate jurisdiction." Late last year, the Georgia Court of Appeals declined to hear the same case and transferred it to the Supreme Court.
Consequently, lawyers said, the Fulton judge’s ruling stands. LaGrua made her decision after both sides asked her to rule on the law since both sides agreed to the facts.
The high court said in a release that the ruling means the case may proceed to trial. But a lawyer for the ACLU said that wasn’t necessary.
“The case is over. It (the court ruling) does not send it back to Judge LaGrua,” said Alan Begner, who represented the International Keystone Knights at the request of the ACLU.
“So, among the clients, myself and the ACLU we’re going to talk about what our next step is.”
Under the Adopt-A-Highway program, civic groups and individuals agree to clean up one-mile stretches of state highways and, in exchange, the state would post a sign that credits them with keeping the roadside clean.
"We just want to clean up the doggone road. We're not going to be out there in robes," Harley Hanson, who calls himself the grand cyclops of the International Keystone Knights of the KKK, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2012.
The Keystone Knights filed an application in 2012 to participate in the Adopt-A-Highway program in Union County. They were immediately given reflective vests and trash bags to pick up along a one-mile stretch of highway. But the state intervened, saying decisions on program participation are made by GDOT, not Union County. The GDOT commissioner notified Hanson that the Klan’s application was rejected because the KKK’s “long-rooted history of civil disturbance” presented the “potential for civil unrest.”
It was the only time an application has been rejected since the program started in 1989.
GDOT notified the media of its decision on the same day Hanson got the commissioner’s letter. It became a national story and fodder for late-night comedy skits.
In argument before the Supreme Court, Assistant Attorney General Brittany Bolton said the public passing the signs along highways might see them as messages from the state Georgia. Erecting a sign recognizing the work of the Klan could be perceived as an endorsement of the group’s beliefs, she said.
“Georgia maintains strict control over messages in the GDOT Adopt a Highway Program, ” Bolton said. “No logos are allowed. Each sign is identical except for the name of the sponsor…. The signs in this program constitute government speech.”
According to the program information, it was open to “any organization, business, individual, family, city, county, state or federal agency. All that was required was that each group have at least six members, with three backups.
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