HOA tells local police chaplain to remove ‘thin blue line’ flag

[martybegan]

HOA agreements can't remove a person's 1st amendment rights.

They absolutely can. Or at least, subject you to civil penalties for failure to comply.

No, they can't. If they apply a ban, it has to not be content based.

They can ban all flags, but not specific flags.

And what do you base this upon?

The fact that a person cannot contractually give away their rights.

Sure they can. What do you think an NDA is if not a contractual restriction on the right to freedom of speech?

That is a one on one contract, not a quasi-governmental function like a HOA.

and even those NDA's often have holes in them.

An HOA contract is a one on one contract between the home owner and the association.

Applied over and over to a group of people, kind of like a governmental function.

Could an HOA mandate warrantless searches of property by the HOA board?

 

[martybegan]

No, they can't. If they apply a ban, it has to not be content based.

They can ban all flags, but not specific flags.

That depends on what is currently written in their rules

Any rule that would be content based probably could be fought in court.