The MTA is a step toward banning all political ads from the transit system after losing a court fight over a controversial ad, but the proposed policy change is facing plenty of skepticism from inside and outside the agency. NY1's Jose Martinez filed the following report.

Inside the trains, and sometimes even outside them, ads are hard to miss in the subway system, especially racy ones. But one ad by American Freedom Defense Initiative is one the MTA doesn't want on its property, even after a federal court ruled last week that it's protected by the First Amendment.

The agency said the language is so hateful, it could incite violence.

"We drew the line when we thought our customers, our employees and the public were in danger. The judge gave short shrift to those concerns," said MTA General Counsel Jerome Page

So on  Monday, the MTA said it will push to revise its advertising standards to exclude so-called "disruptive and controversial viewpoint advertising."

"You can draw a line. And here, we seek to draw that line," said MTA board member Charles Moerdler.

"Other transit agencies that have adopted similar bars on viewpoint speech within the last three years for similar reasons include Chicago Transit Authority, SEPTA in Philadelphia and Los Angeles MTA," Page said.

The ad's creator accused the MTA of trying to make an "end run around the First Amendment," saying, "A free society is by its nature one in which people put up with others being uncivil and offensive. The alternative is a quiet authoritarian society in which only one opinion is allowed and the others are silenced, and ultimately we know where that leads."

Some board members reluctantly backed her up.

"In this country, the First Amendment is very precious, and the court cases are quite clear in this area. And that's why I think we keep losing the cases," said MTA board member Jonathan Ballan.

Some experts say the new policy could create more legal headaches for the MTA if it passes.

"It really is a change in strategy and a change in tactic and potentially expanding the legal issues that a court may have to address in the future," said Douglas Bohn, a partner with Cullen & Dykman LLP.

All over ads with limited financial impact. For all the talk about controversial ads, ones that would be affected under the proposed policy change brought in less than 1 percent of the MTA's total $138 million in ad revenue in 2014.

The full MTA board will vote on the proposal on Wednesday.