Blog #3: Unit 18 on Public Displays

Today we look at public displays and the establishment clause. The Supreme Court’s approach has been less than clear. Its primary cases fall into two groups: seasonal holiday displays and static monuments. American Legion is the Court’s latest word on public displays, but we’ll want to fill in some background on the earlier cases, and I’ll spend some time on today’s podcast talk about them:

The key cases pertaining to holiday displays came in the 1980s: Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668 (1984) (upholding the constitutionality of a display cosponsored by city officials in Pawtucket, Rhode Island) and County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union, 492 U.S. 573 (1989) (concluding that a creche display in a Pittsburgh courthouse violated the establishment clause, but another display in a government building a block away passed muster because it contained a menorah, a Christmas tree, and other decorations).

The creche in Lynch v. Donnelly — The creche in *Lynch v. Donnelly*

The most frequently litigated cases about static displays involve some of the thousands of architectural displays of the Ten Commandments. The key cases came down the same day in 2005. In Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (2005), a 5-4 Court upheld the constitutionality of a Ten Commandments monument in an Austin, Texas, public park. In McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union (2005), a 5-4 Court struck down Ten Commandments displays in two Kentucky county courthouses, concluding that the clear legislative intent of the displays was to promote religion.

The Ten Commandments in Van Orden — The Ten Commandments in *Van Orden*

Think back to Justice Brennan’s comparison (in his Marsh dissent) between “prayer [as] religion in act” and “museum pieces, put on display.” Does that distinction matter as we turn from prayer to public displays?

Here’s one take on public displays from a 2013 book that we might generously call non-academic:

In Good Tidings and Great Joy, Sarah Palin calls for bringing back the freedom to express the Christian values of the season. She asserts the importance of preserving Jesus Christ in Christmas—in public displays, school concerts, pageants, and our expressions to one another other—and laments the over-commercialization and homogenization of Christmas in today's society. Interwoven throughout are personal memories and family traditions, as well as more than a dozen family photos, which illustrate the reasons why the celebration of Jesus Christ's nativity is the centerpiece of her faith. Palin believes it is imperative that we stand up for our beliefs before the element of faith in a glorious and traditional holiday like Christmas is marginalized and ignored. She also encourages readers to see what is possible when we unite in defense of our religious convictions and ignore the politically correct Scrooges seeking to take Christ out of Christmas. Good Tidings and Great Joy is a call to action to openly celebrate the joys of Christianity, and say Merry Christmas to one another.

Anyone interested can purchase a copy on Amazon.

Listen to today’s podcast below: