- A lawsuit filed by a group consisting of students, parents, and chaperones from a Catholic school in South Carolina against the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., has been settled. The legal action stemmed from an incident where security guards instructed them to remove hats displaying an anti-abortion message during their visit last year.
- The federally funded museum has agreed to compensate the more than a dozen plaintiffs with a total sum of $50,000 to resolve the matter. This agreement was disclosed in a filing made in U.S. District Court in Washington.
- This settlement follows a similar resolution four months earlier at the National Archives Museum in Washington, where a smaller group of plaintiffs received $10,000 and comparable conditions were established to address a parallel lawsuit.
Visitors are welcomed into the west end galleries of the National Air and Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, U.S., on October 14, 2022.
Image by Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., has reached a settlement with a group from a Catholic school in South Carolina, including students, parents, and chaperones, who were instructed by security personnel to remove hats bearing a specific message during their visit last year. As per a court filing on Monday, the museum, which receives federal funding, has agreed to pay a total of $50,000 to more than a dozen plaintiffs to resolve the lawsuit. This amount includes legal fees.
Furthermore, the settlement entails a guided tour of the museum for the plaintiffs by the museum’s director, who will also issue an apology to them for the incident that occurred on January 20, 2023. The National Air and Space Museum, the largest within the Smithsonian Institution, has also committed to informing security staff across all its museums and the National Zoo about the policy allowing clothing items, including hats, with various messages, encompassing religious and political expressions.
This resolution mirrors the agreement reached four months ago at the National Archives Museum in Washington, where another group of plaintiffs received $10,000, and similar terms were established to address a comparable lawsuit.
The plaintiffs involved in the National Archives case were directed by guards to either conceal clothing featuring “pro-life” messages or exit the federally operated institution on January 20, 2023.
Visitors explore the west end galleries of the National Air and Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution, situated on the National Mall in Washington, U.S., on October 14, 2022.
Image by Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Both incidents at the museums, located on the National Mall in Washington, coincided with the anti-abortion March for Life in the U.S. capital, in which the respective plaintiffs participated.
Approximately twelve plaintiffs from Our Lady of Rosary Church and School in Greenville, South Carolina, were wearing blue hats with the inscription “Rosary Pro-Life” during their visit to the Air and Space Museum. Guards stationed at various points within the museum instructed the group members to remove their hats, as outlined in their legal complaint.
Allegedly, one guard remarked to several plaintiffs, “Y’all are about to make my day,” and insisted, “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.” This same guard purportedly stated that the First Amendment “does not apply here.”
In reality, both the museum and the National Archives permit patrons to wear clothing with messages, citing the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech.
Subsequent to the lawsuits filed in February 2023, both museums issued apologies for the conduct of their security personnel towards the plaintiffs.
A spokesperson for the American Center for Law & Justice, the conservative Christian group representing the plaintiffs in both cases, refrained from immediate comment on the recent settlement.
Upon request for comment, a spokeswoman for the National Air & Space Museum directed inquiries to the court filing detailing the settlement, while the Department of Justice, responsible for defending the museum in the lawsuit, opted not to provide a statement.