In 1970, Harry J Lehman, a candidate for District 56 of the Ohio General Assembly, sought to purchase advertising space on the trains of the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit. Although other transit systems throughout the state and across the country allowed political advertising, the City of Shaker Heights denied his request, arguing that the Rapid was public property and should not be used for political activities.
Lehman sued the city, but the state courts rejected his claim. The case was accepted by the United States Supreme Court, and its decision, Lehman v. City of Shaker Heights (418 U.S. 298 (1974)), was an important ruling in the regulation of speech on public property. Lehman lost his argument by a vote of 5-4. The opinion concluded that the city had not created a public forum and therefore could refuse to accept political advertising even though it accepted other ads. A concurring opinion held that commuters were a captive audience who could be protected against the imposition of potentially objectionable political messages. The vigorous dissent argued that political advertisement was a form of "speech" and thus protected by the First Amendment.
These signs were prototypes of the campaign posters intended for the Rapid Transit. Mr. Lehman has donated his case files and posters to the Judge Ben C. Green Law Library.
"Harry J. Lehman serves as an appointed member of the School Employees System of Ohio since July 2007. He is a former Oho state legislator and retired law partner from Jones Day. Mr. Lehman represented the Shaker Heights area in the General Assembly from 1971-1981 and chaired the House Judiciary Committee from 1975-1981. During that time he won bipartisan praise for the instrumental role in modernizing the civil and criminal justice systems in Ohio. He also served as a member of the Ohio Elections Commission, a State Bar examiner, adjunct professor at Ohio State University, and as a member of the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission. Mr. Lehman has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College and a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School".-- Bloomberg Business Week Online (4/30/2014).