Appeal filed in Maine mural case

July 30, 2012

PORTLAND, Maine: A recent appeal filing in Boston has judges preparing to ask, "Mural, mural on the wall?" In April 2011, Judge John Woodcock ruled in favor of Maine Governor Paul LePage, who had ordered a mural depicting the state's labor history removed from a state office building. On July 16, 2012, plaintiffs in the case filed an appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit. In their appeal, the plaintiffs contend that Judge Woodcock mistakenly characterized the labor mural as "government speech," rather than the free speech of the artist who created the mural. When Woodcock dismissed the case in 2011, he argued that both the creation and removal of the mural amounted to government speech, and that because the state owned the mural, it could do with it what it wants. LePage took issue with the mural because he thought it portrayed a one-sided view of Maine's labor history. The state plans to file a response to the appeal in September 2012.