MUSKEGON, Mich. — During certain holidays or yearly celebrations, Muskegon City Hall has been known to fly the Pride flag or Mexican flag or an Irish one.
However on Tuesday, the Muskegon City Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to update their flag policy and to keep it just to the United State’s flag and local ones.
“It was a good move because the truth of the matter is you have a lot of far-right organizations in Michigan. Technically under this decision — by the Supreme Court — the militia could come in there and fly their flag promoting a revolution by the United States government,” said law professor Jeffrey Swartz during a Zoom interview on Friday. “Any terrorist group whether they’re Nazis or otherwise could come forward and fly their flag and promote their free speech. So, the best thing to do is to not let anybody fly their flags on a flagpole that’s owned by any governmental agency or subdivision.”
Swartz is a U.S. Constitutional law professor at Western Michigan University’s Cooley Law School.
Specifically, the Tuesday September 13, 2022 meeting notes on the City of Muskegon’s website states:
“Based on the Attorney’s recommendation, staff felt it necessary to recommend changes to our current flag policy. The proposed policy would not allow the flying of any flags with the exception of United States of America, State of Michigan, the County of Muskegon, the City of Muskegon flag, a Sister Cities of the City of Muskegon flag, and visiting dignitaries from the Embassy and/or Consulate that are formally acknowledged by the Mayor and/or City Commission.”
“They have the right to say ‘no’ to everybody,” Swartz said. “They just can’t pick and choose who they say ‘yes’ to.”
Swartz said Muskegon’s decision stems from a decision made by the City of Boston where a Christian group there wanted to have their flag flown in front of a government building. They were denied, and the Supreme Court stepped in.
“They basically just said free speech can not be impeded in any way by the government,” Swartz said. “And if you’re allowing free speech to some, you must allow free speech to all.”
There are exceptions, like allowing flags to be flown for Muskegon’s Sister Cities, like Omuta, Japan and Hartlepool, England. Also, they’re allowing country flags be flown for foreign officials. The meeting notes state:
“...visiting dignitaries from the Embassy and/or Consulate that are formally acknowledged by the Mayor and/or City Commission are permissible and may be flown at City property as authorized by City staff."
Other than that, it’ll be just the U.S. flag, the state flag, the county flag, and city flag going forward.
“It’s a tough issue. It really is a tough issue,” Swartz said. “If you look at it strictly as a freedom of speech issue and interpreting the First Amendment, the decision is absolutely correct. It’s unfortunate.”
