Mississippi flag keeps flying

The Mississippi state flag incorporates the Confederacy’s “Stars and Bars”; in Mississippi Rising Coalition v. City of Ocean Springs, plaintiffs challenged a local ordinance requiring that the flag be flown over city hall and other municipal buildings. In particular, they alleged that the law “amounts to ‘racial steering’ under the [Fair Housing Act] because it deters African-Americans from living in or moving to Ocean Springs.” Citing recent authority that rejected the plaintiffs’ standing to bring an equal protection challenge to a similar law, the Fifth Circuit found that these plaintiffs also lacked both constitutional and statutory standing: “Even assuming arguendo that displaying a state flag could be considered ‘making’ or ‘publishing’ a ‘notice, statement, or advertisement,’ that alone does not plausibly suggest that the City has done
anything ‘with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling.'” No. 18-60473 (Dec. 3, 2018).