Longtime Commandments Lawsuit Closes; Utah Monument Stays
by Allie Martin
February 23, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought the removal of a Ten Commandments monument from a public park in one Utah city. In 1971 the Fraternal Order of Eagles donated the monument to the city of Pleasant Grove, a community of about 24,000 a short distance south of Salt Lake City. Several years ago, however, the Society of Separationists filed a lawsuit to have the monument removed, claiming it violated both the Establishment Clause to the U.S. Constitution and the Utah Constitution.
Last week, however, Utah Federal District Court Judge Bruce Jenkins dismissed the lawsuit, with prejudice. Ed White, trial counsel with the Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center, represented the city in the suit, and explains that Judge Jenkins ruled as his client had requested.
"Our point ... was the case should be dismissed with prejudice," the attorney says. "It's been pending for a number of years; the plaintiff does not want to proceed. The federal judge agreed with us and ... issued a six-page opinion saying that the case should be dismissed with prejudice, which means that these plaintiffs cannot sue the city to have the monument removed again."
The Law Center spokesman shares that it is becoming more common that communities are being bolder about displaying the Decalogue. "I'm noticing that more and more cities around the country are putting up displays because they realize that they can," White says.
"They're not now just buckling under as they were two, three, four, five, ten years ago when there would be a letter sent to them by the ACLU or Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and they would immediately go out and remove the monument; they wouldn't even fight it," he continues. "Now they realize they can win these cases -- and they are."
Still, says White, another group has filed a separate lawsuit related to the monument. The Thomas More Law Center was assisted in the case by the American Center for Law and Justice.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
