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Pleasant Grove City v. Summum

Religious Freedom

About this Case

Pleasant Grove City, UT, had placed donated monuments in a city park. However, when adherents of the Summum religion donated a monument, the City declined to place it in the park. Because the city had accepted a Ten Commandments monument, the Summum adherents argued that the city must display a monument containing its Seven Aphorisms, and that the city’s refusal violated plaintiff’s free speech rights. The U.S. District Court denied the plaintiff’s request for a preliminary injunction, and the plaintiff appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.  That court reversed the lower court decision.  The city appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Summary of NLF's Brief

We argued that the park was not a traditional public forum and that the display of monuments in the park constituted “government speech.”  Both of these factors allowed the city to reject a monument containing a message with which the city did not agree.

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