The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that Pleasant Grove cannot
be forced to place a Salt Lake City-based religious sect's "Seven
Aphorisms of Summum" in its park, even though the city already displays
other religious monuments like the Ten Commandments.
But an attorney for Summum told the Deseret News the fight was not over.
"We still have a trial in front of us, and the case is now morphed into
an Establishment Clause claim," said civil rights attorney Brian
Barnard, referring to an aspect of the First Amendment prohibiting
government from adopting a national religion.
"In order to protect themselves from free speech claim, they said it's
'government speech.' OK, you've painted yourself into a corner. If it's
your speech, now we have a problem because you just adopted the Ten
Commandments as your speech, and you're telling us you won't adopt the
aphorisms as your speech."
Barnard said the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling was limited in its scope,
and there is still another aspect of Summum's lawsuit still pending in
federal court in Salt Lake City.
The ruling handed down early Wednesday sides with Pleasant Grove, which
has several privately donated displays in Pioneer Park. They include a
monument to the Sept. 11 terror attacks, a stone from the first LDS
temple in Nauvoo, a historic granary, a wishing well and a Ten
Commandments display.
In 2003, Summum sought to place its "Seven Aphorisms," which outline
the sect's philosophy, in the park. It was rejected at first because
the city claimed that only displays that "either directly relate to the
history of Pleasant Grove or were donated by groups with long-standing
ties to the Pleasant Grove community." The following year, the City
Council passed a resolution putting it in writing.
Summum tried again in 2005 and was rejected. Summum's subsequent
lawsuit argued the city couldn't allow some displays in a public park
and reject others without violating the First Amendment. A federal
appeals court in Denver agreed, saying parks are traditionally public
forums and ordering the city to erect the Seven Aphorisms.
Pleasant Grove appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the unanimous opinion, Justice Samuel Alito said "it is clear that
the monuments in Pleasant Grove's Pioneer Park represent government
speech."
Alito distinguished between efforts to prevent groups from exercising
their First Amendment right to free speech in a public park and
Summum's claim that it is not given equal access to placing a monument
in the park.
"Speakers, no matter how long-winded, eventually come to the end of
their remarks; persons distributing leaflets and carrying signs at some
point tire and go home; monuments, however, endure," Alito wrote. "They
monopolize the use of the land on which they stand and interfere
permanently with other uses of public space.
"A public park, over the years, can provide a soapbox for a very large
number of orators — often, for all who want to speak — but it is hard
to imagine how a public park could be opened up for the installation of
permanent monuments by every person or group wishing to engage in that
form of expression."
Pleasant Grove attorney Peter Stirba said the decision clarifies an ambiguous situation about public parks and monuments.
"It is government speech and is not regulated or controlled by the
First Amendment and is a function that is appropriate for government to
decide in a public park what monument is going to have and what isn't,"
Stirba told the Deseret News on Wednesday. "It certainly provides some
guidance to public officials in the future about this kind of issue and
concerns."
But Barnard said Pleasant Grove now faces a bigger challenge in court.
"They've handed to us on a silver platter the next argument," he said
of the ruling. "They've adopted the Ten Commandments as their own
speech. They've told the world they're violating the establishment
clause."
In their own concurring opinion, Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsberg seemed to raise that issue.
"While I join the Court's persuasive opinion, I think the reasons
justifying the city's refusal would have been equally valid if its
acceptance of the monument, instead of being characterized as
'government speech,' had merely been deemed an implicit endorsement of
the donor's message," Stevens wrote.
Recognizing the displays as "government speech" does not give the
government free license to communicate offensive or partisan messages,
the justices wrote, suggesting that the effects of the ruling will be
limited. Justice Stephen Breyer also wrote that if the city were "to
discriminate in its monument selection process on grounds unrelated to
the display's theme, say solely on political grounds, its action might
well violate the First Amendment."
Stirba, who represents several cities in Utah, said the fallout from
the decision could prompt other communities to clarify their policies
on monuments in public parks.
"This helps government officials because it gives them quite a bit of
freedom to make choices without fear of being sued for violating the
First Amendment," he said.
Pleasant Grove Mayor Michael Daniels called the ruling "great news for Pleasant Grove."
"It's also great news for any other city or state agency — or even the
federal government — that has acquired monuments or statues or
artifacts that they want to display in a museum setting," Daniels said.
Summum is a religion rooted in Gnostic Christianity, whose "Seven
Aphorisms" it believes are the stone tablets created before the Ten
Commandments when Moses communed with God on Mount Sinai. The Seven
Aphorisms were destroyed when Moses witnessed the behavior of the
Israelites, Summum said, and instead passed on the Ten Commandments to
the people.
"Today, just as then, many people are not ready to understand the
aphorisms carved on those first tablets. The lower law of the Ten
Commandments continues to provide a useful guide for those that
understand them," Summum said on its Web site. "Nevertheless, there are
others who have developed to a point they are ready to examine and
understand the aphorisms and principles of Creation. These aphorisms
are the principles upon which the Summum philosophy is based. The
aphorisms are the Principles of Summum and are the Principles of
Creation."
Summum is known for its pyramid-shaped building on Salt Lake City's
west side. It also practices mummification, offering the service for
pets and people on its Web site.
"Right now I'm not in a position that I can talk to you," said a woman
who answered the phone at a number listed for Summum, when asked her
reaction to the Supreme Court's ruling.
The case will be sent back to Denver's 10th Circuit Court of Appeals
and then back to U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, where it will
be heard in the next three to four months. A similar lawsuit Summum
filed against the eastern Utah city of Duchesne still remains pending
before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Contributing: James Davies