Spring flowers and the final week of argument in the Supreme Court’s 2015 term have all of us at RLUIPA Defense thinking spring. However, at least one controversy from the 2014 holiday season is back in bloom (reported on previously here, “Tis The Season for Nativity Scenes & Satanic Displays: Happy Holidays from RLUIPA Defense”). The Freedom from Religion Foundation (“FFRF”) and The United Federation of Churches LLC (d/b/a The Satanic Temple) (“TST”) have filed another federal lawsuit against Franklin County, Indiana challenging the public use of the County courthouse lawn. Late last year, FFRF and two FFRF members filed suit (currently pending under Case No. 1:14-cv-2047-TWP-DML (S.D. Ind.)) alleging that the life-size nativity scene, which had been displayed on the courthouse lawn every Christmas season for approximately fifty years, violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

In this case, TST joined with FFRF to challenge County Ordinance 2015-02, regulating the use of the courthouse lawn by persons seeking to erect public displays. According to the purpose statement of Ordinance 2015-02, “[i]t is the county’s policy to provide all county citizens with equal access to the courthouse grounds.”

In mid-February 2015, FFRF submitted a permit application to erect a display on the courthouse lawn “consist[ing] of several cut-out figures celebrating the December 15th nativity of the Bill of Rights.” FFRR explained its desire to have its display on the courthouse lawn from November 29, 2015 through January 6, 2016: “the County has violated the Establishment Clause for decades, and it wishes to present a countervailing message to the nativity scene observed by County residents and visitors for half a century.”

TST, which describes itself as “an organized religion that encourages benevolence and empathy among all people while embracing practical common sense and justice,” also applied to the County to erect a display on the courthouse lawn for the same November to December period. The display would consist of “an artistic three-dimensional sculpture mounted on a wooden platform….” TST’s motivation for its display is to publically express its religious beliefs in an effort to obtain more adherents by familiarizing them with TST’s message.

Each application was considered by the County’s Board of Commissioners at its March 2, 2015 meeting. According to the complaint, the Board denied both applications because “neither FFRF nor TST is a resident of the County.” Based on the denials, FFRF and TST claim that the permit denial and the county-resident requirement violate the Establishment Clause. A copy of the complaint and Ordinance 2015-02 are available here and 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.

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.