Court Upholds Ban on Military Retirement Home Residents' Wearing Political Clothing in Public Spaces

Free Speech |The Volokh Conspiracy | 5.2.2026 2:50 PM The Court has in the past upheld restrictions on political activity (such as candidate speeches) on military bases, see Greer v. Spock (1976), and lower courts have upheld restrictions on speech by outsiders on various kinds of government property, including military bases. But when may the government restrict speech by people who actually live on government property—military bases or otherwise—and who aren't active duty military or even other government employees? The issue has come up fairly rarely, but at least some cases have recognized that residents of various kinds of public housing retain broad constitutional rights on that property. Resident Action Council v. Seattle Housing Authority (Wash. 2008) is one example; that case struck down a "[public] housing regulation prohibiting the posting of signs on the exterior of resident apartment doors" by the residents. See also, e.g., Walker v. Georgetown Housing Authority (Mass. 1997). But in Friday's Fuselier v. RisCassi, Chief Judge Halil Suleyman Ozerden (S.D. Miss.) upheld a limit on wearing political clothing in public spaces at a military retirement home. An excerpt: Plaintiff … is a Vietnam War veteran and long-term resident of the Armed Forces Retirement Home—Gulfport, a