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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A neo-Nazi group has joined the state’s “Adopt-A-Highway” volunteer litter- pickup program, taking advantage of a free-speech court fight won four years ago by the Ku Klux Klan.

The Springfield unit of the National Socialist Movement has committed to cleaning up trash along a half-mile section of Highway 160 near the Springfield city limits.

Two signs noting the group’s membership in the Adopt-A-Highway program went up in October but drew attention only recently when the group picked up litter as part of a gathering in Springfield.

The state says it had no way to reject the group’s application.

A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling arising from a similar effort by the Ku Klux Klan says membership in the program can’t be denied because of a group’s political beliefs.

“It’s a First Amendment thing, and we can’t discriminate as long as they pick up the trash,” said Bob Edwards, a spokesman for the transportation department’s office in Springfield.

The neo-Nazi group decided to take part in the highway project because it wants to clean up the community, said Ariana Glass, a 16-year-old member of the youth division of the group. “We wanted to prove that we’re not out here just to have fun; we want to make the community look good.”