The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed two federal lawsuits aimed at protecting nonprofit speech. Organizations advocating for changes in federal drug policy, represented by the ACLU, filed suit in federal district court challenging the constitutionality of an amendment in the FY2004 appropriations bill. The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK), prohibits federally funded transit authorities from accepting advertisements promoting the decriminalization of any Schedule I substance, including marijuana, for medical or other purposes. Istook introduced the amendment after seeing an advertisement on the District of Columbia's Metrorail system that showed a picture of a man holding a woman in his arms with a tag line, "Enjoy better sex! Legalize and Tax Marijuana." After the FY2004 appropriations became law, the ACLU along with the Drug Policy Alliance, Change the Climate (authors of the Metrorail advertisement), and the Marijuana Policy Project submitted an advertisement to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) showing a group of ordinary people standing behind prison bars under the headline, "Marijuana Laws Waste Billions of Taxpayer Dollars to Lock Up Non-Violent Americans." The ad was rejected. The groups are asking the court to declare the Istook Amendment unconstitutional and to order WMATA to accept the paid advertisement. Arguments in the case were heard April 28. For more background information on the Istook Amendment see our Dec. 15 Watcher article, Istook Strikes Back - Another Attack on Nonprofit Speech. For more information on the ACLU et al. suit against the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority see the ACLU's press release. In another case of viewpoint discrimination, the 3 Rivers Music Festival in South Carolina, refused the Midlands chapter of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) the right to advocate and distribute information at the festival. NORML was the only nonprofit organization to have their booth application turned down by the festival. The South Carolina Chapter of the ACLU immediately sent a letter to the 3 River Music Festival demanding that NORML be able to attend the festival and have a booth. In addition to the letter, the ACLU filed a federal suit against the festival. Festival then agreed to allow NORML to participate, but stated that it had a written policy that called for the removal of any activists that do not remain in their booth to distribute literature. Before the judge was able to rule on the case, the 3 Rivers Music Festival decided to allow nonprofits to hand out literature. In the end, NORML attended the festival, had a booth alongside nonprofit advocacy groups, and freely distributed literature.