Justices: Utah city can refuse monument

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 Wednesday that a Utah city that has long permitted a Ten Commandments monument in a city park need not accept a small sect's "Seven Aphorisms" marker. The decision boosts governments' control over what goes in parks and other public spaces.

The justices reversed a lower court's decision that once Pleasant Grove had allowed the Ten Commandments and several historical artifacts in its Pioneer Park, it had created a "public forum" where other groups' markers must be allowed.

The justices said that although such a First Amendment rationale applies to speeches and temporary displays, it does not cover permanent monuments. "A public park, over the years, can provide a soapbox for a very large number of orators," Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the court, "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."

The case tested speech rights and did not involve more controversial questions related to when a religious display might violate the constitutional separation of church and state.

Some cities, such as New York, had warned the lower court's decision could lead to cluttered public parks.

Alito said a permanent marker on public grounds represents a type of "government speech," so a city can essentially say what it wants.

David Hudson of the First Amendment Center, a non-partisan center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville that studies free-expression issues, said the ruling offered the court's most detailed view of government speech principles to date. He said the decision would make it harder to challenge monuments for free-speech reasons.

The dispute began in 2003 when Summum sought to erect a monument to its seven principles, or aphorisms. Summum, founded in 1975 and headquartered in Salt Lake City, adopts Egyptian customs, such as mummification. City officials said they wanted only monuments related to city history or from groups with long-standing community ties. The Ten Commandments monument was donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1971.