The 2.1 million dollars will pay legal fees and other expenses to Liberty Counsel, a Christian legal group that spearheaded a successful legal challenge to the city’s refusal to allow a Christian cross flag to fly outside City Hall, a case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Liberty Counsel Chairman Mat Staver said in a statement, “We are pleased that after five years of litigation and a unanimous victory at the U.S. Supreme Court, we …finally let freedom fly in Boston, the Cradle of Liberty.”
In May, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Boston violated Camp Constitution‘s First Amendment rights by denying the group’s request to fly a white flag with a red Christian cross displayed in the corner on Constitution Day 2017. After the court’s ruling, the city allowed the flag to be raised at City Hall Plaza in August.
According to the spokesperson, the settlement allows the city to “avoid the costs and uncertainty associated with further litigation in this case.”
For years, the city has allowed outside groups holding ceremonies at City Hall Plaza to hoist flags of their choosing on one of the three flagpoles on the property in place of the city’s flag.
While some of those flags were other countries’ flags, others were flags for special causes, such as the LGBT pride flag. The only flag rejected was the Christian flag.