Supreme Court agrees to hear Summum Case
The SCOTUS blog links to the order and provides document filings in Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum, No. 07-665.
ACLJ has issued this press release in connection with the case and reports:
In August 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit split 6-6 over a request for the full appeals court to rehear two cases involving demands that the Utah cities of Pleasant Grove City and Duchesne City erect monuments containing the “Seven Aphorisms” of a group called Summum. The federal appeals court had ruled in favor of Summum in both cases, saying the group could insist upon erecting its own “Seven Aphorisms” monument in the city parks because the cities already displayed monuments of the Ten Commandments which were donated decades ago.
In its petition asking the high court to take the case involving Pleasant Grove, the ACLJ says the 10th Circuit decision conflicts with decisions of other circuits, badly distorts First Amendment jurisprudence, and “will impose severe practical burdens on government entities . . .”
The ACLJ also contends that the lower court made a serious error confusing government speech with private speech . . .
This post may be updated throughout the day.
The AP has this report, Court Agrees to Take Free Speech Case. It indicates:
. . . Officials in Pleasant Grove City, Utah, asked the court to step into the lawsuit brought by the religious group known as Summum, saying that if the group prevails, governments would be inundated with demands to display donated monuments.
The dispute stems from Pleasant Grove City’s refusal to allow the display of a “Seven Aphorisms of Summum” monument in the same park that is the home for a Ten Commandments monument donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles 47 years ago.
At issue is whether a donated monument displayed by a municipality remains the private speech of the original donor, or is government speech; and whether placing donated monuments in a government-owned park creates a public forum or whether the government retains authority to select which monuments to display . . .
Related Alert posts:
ACLJ: Supreme Court Conference Set for Ten Commandments Cases
Supreme Court Petitions to Watch - The Summum cases
ACLJ: Supreme Court must take Utah aphorisms case