If two U.S. Supreme Court justices ask advocates more than once why the case being argued before them wasn’t settled, the advocates may have a problem.

The questions came from Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan on Tuesday in Shurtleff v. City of Boston, a First Amendment free speech case with religious overtones. Shurtleff, head of Camp Constitution, wanted to fly a religious flag on one of the flagpoles on the plaza in front of City Hall.