Ga. Supreme Court will decide if the KKK can ‘adopt-a-highway’

Atlanta, GA — The Georgia Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday on whether the Ku Klux Klan can adopt a highway in north Georgia. The group is suing the state, claiming it's being denied application to the program.

The program is intended to get volunteers to agree to pick up litter along the sponsored roadway and in return, groups get their name posted on a sign.

The Department of Transportation says they should be able to exclude certain groups. GDOT cited the KKK's long-rooted history of civil disturbance and the potential for social unrest as reasons for denying the group application into the program.

Leaders with the KKK say they're being denied their right to free speech.

The battle has been going back and forth for three years, ever since the group applied to adopt a stretch of State Route 515 in Union County.

When GDOT first turned them down, the case went to court and a Fulton County judge ruled in the Ku Klux Klan's favor, saying they are unfairly being singled out because of their views.

The appeal of the KKK's initial win is led by state attorney general Sam Olens who argues it's not free speech because the sign belongs to the state.

In 2015, a court in Texas decided images of a confederate flag on a license plate were not free speech because the plate belongs to the state. A state attorney argued that putting 'Ku Klux Klan' on a sign sharing space with the word 'Georgia' makes it appear as though the state is endorsing the message.

"Just as the word 'Texas' [on the license plate] conveyed that this is a government message, the same is true in this case," said Georgia Assistant Attorney General Brittany Bolton.

For this reason, the state argues that words on a government sign written by the government, are not protected under free speech.

The same thing happened in Missouri about twenty years ago, and the KKK won that battle in the Supreme Court. However, they were eventually kicked out of the program for not actually picking up any trash.

Even if the KKK gets their sign, they'll have to prove they are picking up trash at least once every three months in order to keep it there.