American Freedom Defense Initiative v. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

BARRON, Circuit Judge.

These consolidated appeals require us to decide whether the First Amendment permits the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (“MBTA”) to refuse to display a pair of paid, private advertisements on the trains, buses, and transit stations that the MBTA operates. Many circuits and district courts have addressed the First Amendment issues that public transit •authority advertising policies raise. We set forth our approach most recently and *574most thoroughly in Ridley v. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, 390 F.3d 65 (1st Cir.2004).

In that case, we considered a…