NEW YORK (JTA) -- The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against a Michigan bus agency that refused to post an advertisement calling for a boycott of Israel.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in Detroit federal court, the Detroit Free Press reported. The suit claims that the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority is violating the free-speech rights of Blaine Coleman, who attempted to purchase the ads on buses in that city. The agency's board rejected the ad at a Nov. 17 meeting because of a standing policy against ads that ridicule people or groups.

Coleman's ad would read "Boycott Israel, Boycott Apartheid."