A Federal judge ruled that anti-Islamic advertising must be displayed on the sides of 84 Philadelphia buses through the month of April, 2015. The signs were produced by the right wing American Freedom Defense Initiative, an activist group promoting a program called "Stop Islamization of America." The Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) tried refusing to mount the signs as inflammatory, but the judge ruled that SEPTA would violate the 1st Amendment by reneging on its contract with the advertiser.
At an inter-faith rally in Philadelphia’s Love Park, Mayor Michael Nutter and leading Christian, Jewish and Muslim clerics condemned the signs as inflammatory and misleading. They called upon the city’s residents to honor Philadelphia’s long Quaker tradition of tolerance for all religions.