The Epitome Of Hypocrisy
by Buck • Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 - 12:43 pm“When the government puts its imprimatur on a particular religion it conveys a message of exclusion to all those who do not adhere to the favored beliefs. A government cannot be premised on the belief that all persons are created equal when it asserts that God prefers some.” -Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun.
Our government just went and endorsed one religion over another. The argument they made was that the city government in question can pick and choose what religion can be expressed upon public ground.
Court rules for Utah city in religious marker case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that a small religious group cannot force a city in Utah to place a granite marker in a local park that already is home to a Ten Commandments display.
In a case involving the Salt Lake City-based Summum, the court said that governments can decide what to display in a public park without running afoul of the First Amendment.
Pleasant Grove City, Utah, rejected the group’s marker, prompting a federal lawsuit that argued that a city can’t allow some private donations of displays in its public park and reject others. The federal appeals court in Denver agreed.
In his opinion for the court, Justice Samuel Alito distinguished the Summum’s case from efforts to prevent groups from speaking in public parks, which ordinarily would violate the First Amendment’s free speech guarantee.
Alito said “the display of a permanent monument in a public park” requires a different analysis.
Because monuments in public parks help define a city’s identity, “cities and other jurisdictions take some care in accepting donated monuments,” he said.
Alito would do well to re-read our Constitution… specifically the part which he just thumbed his nose at:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
If this crap is allowed to stand, then our Constitution has just become a big fucking joke.
Tagged: Alito, Supreme Court, Ten Commandments, Utah, religious marker
February 25th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
In the heart of Jesusistan, this is no surprise at all. Utah was founded as a theocracy, and the Federal Government has never really tried to make them conform to the Constitution.
February 25th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
JollyRoger, true. But since it was the SCOTUS that handed down that decision, it's a departure from where we once stood. And not a good one - slippery slope and all that.
February 26th, 2009 at 1:04 am
Alito is a turd blossom.
February 26th, 2009 at 2:03 am
The entire decision isn't horrible, but there are too many loopholes this leaves - and the 10 commandments plaque needs to go. They're ruling on a 8-ft cross in a public park next term.
But yeah, Alito's pretty damn weak.