A case to watch out of Oklahoma – American Atheists, Inc. v. Thompson, No. CIV-14-42-C (W.D. OK 2014) – involves a lawsuit brought by an atheist group challenging the placement of a 2,000 pound Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Oklahoma State Capitol.  American Atheists, Inc. contends that the placement of the monument violates the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause and the Equal Protection Clause.  An Oklahoma federal court recently denied a motion to dismiss brought by defendants, members of the Oklahoma State Capitol Preservation Commission, and ruled that the case can proceed.

The Oklahoma federal district court rejected defendants’ argument that the Establishment Clause claim should be dismissed based on the Supreme Court’s decision in Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (2005), in which the Supreme Court concluded that an identical Ten Commandments monument in a park did not violate the Constitution.  The Oklahoma court noted that Van Orden recognized that “[i]t is the context in which a monument exists that plays a significant role in whether or not a monument runs afoul of the Establishment Clause,” and distinguished the context in Van Orden from the Oklahoma case.  The monument in Van Orden was placed in a large park that contained 17 monuments and 21 historical markers to demonstrate the ideals of those who settled in Texas, and the Supreme Court found that the monument had a “dual significance, partaking of both religion and government.”  In the Oklahmoa case, however, the Ten Commandments monument stands alone next to the State Capitol.

The court also refused to dismiss American Atheists’ claim that defendants violated the Equal Protection Clause through the placement of a religious monument that allegedly discriminates against non-believers, while imposing a moratorium on the placement of additional monuments, which allegedly favors the current Ten Commandments monument.  One of the plaintiffs – an individual member of American Atheists – was dismissed for lack of standing.  The Oklahoma federal court’s decision on defendants’ motion to dismiss can be accessed here and Plaintiffs’ Complaint here.

Reportedly, a Satanic group plans to seek permission to place a Satanist statue on the lawn of the Oklahoma State Capitol (read more here).

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Photo of Evan Seeman Evan Seeman

Evan J. Seeman is a lawyer in Robinson+Cole’s Hartford office and focuses his practice on land use, real estate, environmental, and regulatory matters, representing local governments, developers and advocacy groups. He has spoken and written about RLUIPA, and was a lead author of…

Evan J. Seeman is a lawyer in Robinson+Cole’s Hartford office and focuses his practice on land use, real estate, environmental, and regulatory matters, representing local governments, developers and advocacy groups. He has spoken and written about RLUIPA, and was a lead author of an amicus curiae brief at the petition stage before the United States Supreme Court in a RLUIPA case entitled City of San Leandro v. International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.

Evan serves as the Secretary/Treasurer of the APA’s Planning & Law Division. He also serves as the Chair of the Planning & Zoning Section of the Connecticut Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section, and is the former Co-Chair of its Municipal Law Section. He has been named to the Connecticut Super Lawyers® list as a Rising Star in the area of Land Use Law for 2013 and 2014. He received his B.A. in political science and Russian studies (with honors) from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where he was selected as the President’s Fellow in the Department of Modern Languages and Literature. Evan received his Juris Doctor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he served on the Connecticut Law Review. While in law school, he interned with the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General in the environmental department, and served as a judicial intern for the judges of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court. Following law school, Evan clerked for the Honorable F. Herbert Gruendel of the Connecticut Appellate Court.

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Photo of Dwight Merriam Dwight Merriam

Dwight H. Merriam founded Robinson+Cole’s Land Use Group in 1978. He represents land owners, developers, governments and individuals in land use matters, with a focus on defending governments in RLUIPA cases. Dwight is a Fellow and Past President of the American Institute of…

Dwight H. Merriam founded Robinson+Cole’s Land Use Group in 1978. He represents land owners, developers, governments and individuals in land use matters, with a focus on defending governments in RLUIPA cases. Dwight is a Fellow and Past President of the American Institute of Certified Planners, a former Director of the American Planning Association (APA), a former chair of APA’s Planning and Law Division, Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of State and Local Government Law, Chair of the Institute of Local Government Studies at the Center for American and International Law, a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a member of the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute National Advisory Board, a Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, a Counselor of Real Estate, a member of the Anglo-American Real Property Institute, and a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

He teaches land use law at the University of Connecticut School of Law and at Vermont Law School and has published over 200 articles and eight books, including Inclusionary Zoning Moves Downtown, The Takings Issue, The Complete Guide to Zoning, and Eminent Domain Use and Abuse: Kelo in Context. He is the senior co-author of the leading casebook on land use law, Planning and Control of Land Development (Eighth Edition). Dwight has written and spoken widely on how to avoid RLUIPA claims and how to successfully defend against them in court. He is currently writing a book on the subject, RLUIPA DEFENSE, for the American Bar Association.

Dwight has been named to the Connecticut Super Lawyers® list in the area of Land Use Law since 2006, is one of the Top 50 Connecticut Super Lawyers in Connecticut, and is one of the Top 100 New England Super Lawyers (Super Lawyers is a registered trademark of Key Professional Media, Inc.). He received his B.A. (cum laude) from the University of Massachusetts, his Masters of Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina, where he was the graduation speaker in 2011, and his J.D. from Yale. He is a featured speaker at many land use seminars, and presents monthly audio land use seminars for the International Municipal Lawyers Association. Dwight has been cited in the national press from The New York Times to People magazine and has appeared on NBC’s The Today Show, MSNBC and public television.

Dwight also had a career in the Navy, serving for three tours in Vietnam aboard ship, then returning to be the Senior Advisor of the Naval ROTC Unit at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where he taught Defense Administration and Military Management as an Assistant Professor in the undergraduate and graduate curriculum in Defense Administration and Military Management. He left active duty after seven years to attend law school, but continued on for 24 more years as a reserve Surface Warfare Officer with two major commands, including that of the reserve commanding officer of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. He retired as a Captain in 2009 after 31 years of service.

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