ACLJ: Federal Appeals Court Should Revisit & Reject Latest Tactic to Strip the Public Square of Nation's Heritage in Utah Case
by Staff
Washington, DC (christiansunite.com) - The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), specializing in constitutional law, today asked the full panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver to vacate a April 17, 2007 decision holding that Pleasant Grove City in Utah must allow a group called Summum to erect its "Seven Aphorisms" monument in a public park because the City displays a Ten Commandments monument donated to the City by the Fraternal Order of Eagles. The ACLJ serves as co-counsel representing the City of Pleasant Grove. In its filing today, the ACLJ is asking the full court of appeals to rehear the case and vacate the earlier decision.
"This is a case that turns free speech and equal access on its head," said Francis Manion, Senior Counsel of the ACLJ. "This case is not about equal access. The law is clear: the City controls what it owns and displays in its park. And, a long-standing decision by the City to display the Ten Commandments monument donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles 35 years ago should not result in a court-ordered mandate for the City to permit any and all persons to erect their private, permanent monuments in the city park. This is a case where the appeals court got it wrong. We're asking the full appeals court to reject this flawed legal reasoning and restore the proper balance between government speech and private speech. This is an important case involving sound constitutional principles and we're prepared to take this case to the Supreme Court of the United States if necessary."
In its brief filed today, asking the appeals court for an en banc hearing, the ACLJ argues that the three-judge panel that ruled last month erred, as did the same appeals court in a decision from 2002. The ACLJ contends that unless the earlier decisions are overturned, cities and states will be forced to face a troubling choice - remove long-standing monuments that underscore our Judeo-Christian heritage - or permit any group to display any monument in public places - something that flies in the face of well-recognized legal principles.
"The only way the government could close the forum, and prevent its parks from being cluttered with monuments, would be to remove every donated monument it has ever erected," the brief asserts. "Cities should not be forced to make such an absurd choice. Cities should be able to display in their parks whatever items in their possession they choose to display. . . . Unlike in private speech cases, accepting a Ten Commandments monument as the government's own display does not require accepting an anti-Decalogue monument ('Thou shalt disregard the Sabbath,' etc.) in the name of viewpoint neutrality. Nor does accepting a monument require that a government park be turned into a cluttered junkyard of monuments contributed by all comers."
The complete ACLJ brief is posted at
www.aclj.org/Media/PDF/Summum_v_Pleasant_Grove_Petition_05012007.pdfSummum's attorney in this case is the same attorney who represented the Society of Separationists, a group which filed a federal lawsuit challenging the display of Pleasant Grove's Ten Commandments monument. After a 2005 Supreme Court decision, Van Orden v. Perry, which held that a similar Ten Commandments monument on the capitol grounds in Texas was constitutionally permissible, the suit against Pleasant Grove was dismissed. Summum filed suit against Pleasant Grove, which assumed the legality of the Ten Commandments display, before the suit by the Society of Separationists was dismissed.
"This is just another twist in the ongoing assault on our cultural and religious heritage," said Manion. "The legal system is being used to pressure local and state governments to remove any vestige of our religious heritage. We remain committed to protecting America's heritage in its fullness - including the religious aspects. We will continue to counter the legal and legislative push to rewrite history."
The ACLJ, which represents the City of Pleasant Grove, is serving as co-counsel with the Michigan-based Thomas More Center.
Led by Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, the American Center for Law and Justice specializes in constitutional law and is based in Washington, D.C.
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