Summum seeks OK for monument
Group wants court order dealing with Pleasant Grove park
"We are asking for a court order that Summum be able to put up its monument immediately," said Summum's attorney Brian Barnard.
The group has filed several motions in U.S. District Court, including a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, which asks U.S. District Judge Dee Benson to order the monument's immediate placement. The move comes in light of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals' reversal of a lower court's ruling upholding the constitutionality of the Pleasant Grove display.
But it is not clear how the court will rule in light of an uncertain ruling over Ten Commandment displays from the U.S. Supreme Court last June. In its ruling, the nation's highest court upheld a display outside the Texas State Capitol because it was part of an array of monuments in which the focus was historic in nature. However, the high court struck down a display inside a Kentucky courthouse because the focus of the display appeared to endorse certain religious beliefs over others.
But city officials have balked at the idea.
In their response to Summum's motions, attorneys for Pleasant Grove say the city has a policy and practice "established over many decades" to accept monuments that "directly relate to the history of Pleasant Grove" or "were donated by groups with long-standing ties to the Pleasant Grove community." The city also argues that such a preliminary injunction would be "disfavored" because it would, among other things, disturb the status quo.
"The case is about simple fairness," Barnard said. "The City can not allow the public display of one set of religious beliefs to the exclusion of all others."
The display in question, which the city says is part of several other monuments and signs, was donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles about 1970.
Summum is asking Benson to find that Pleasant Grove has violated its free speech rights, that the city "cease giving preference and endorsement to one particular set of religious beliefs" and order that Summum be allowed to erect its monument at the city park immediately.
Barnard says Summum has a monument already designed, but it has not been made.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com
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