A.C.L.U. Suit for Removal of Creche and Menorah Is Denied (original) (raw)
New York|A.C.L.U. Suit for Removal of Creche and Menorah Is Denied
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Dec. 24, 1999
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December 24, 1999
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A federal judge in Newark refused yesterday to order a New Jersey town to dismantle its holiday display, and accused the state American Civil Liberties Union of looking for publicity by filing its request so close to Christmas.
Judge Alfred M. Wolin of United States District Court denied a motion to order the display in Wall Township, in Monmouth County, taken down before Christmas. He said at yesterday's hearing that the A.C.L.U. had known of the display since Dec. 2 but had entered the motion only on Dec. 20. The timing, Judge Wolin told the parties, could only have been intended to maximize media coverage or to eliminate the possibility of an appeal before Christmas if the ruling went against the township.
''It was, quite frankly, pretty unusual to see a federal judge be that direct,'' said the township's mayor, Michael Fitzgerald, a lawyer, who applauded the judge's ruling and echoed his accusation.
Lenora Lapidus, the A.C.L.U.'s legal director, denied the accusation, asserting that her group was a state chapter with limited resources that depends largely on volunteer lawyers. ''We made the motion as quickly as we could,'' she said.
The motion was part of a lawsuit filed by the organization against the township in February, in response to a December display -- in a public courtyard next to the municipal building -- that included a Nativity scene and a cloth banner depicting a menorah. A real menorah was donated for this year's display. The A.C.L.U. charges that religious symbols violate the constitutional separation of church and state.
The judge's action did not touch on the constitutionality of the display, an issue on which he is expected to rule early next year. In February, days before the Wall Township suit was filed, a federal appeals panel ruled that a creche and a menorah in Jersey City were permissible as parts of an overall cultural display that also included a plastic Santa Claus and Frosty the Snowman.
Kevin Hasson, president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in Washington, which is representing Wall Township in the case, quoted Judge Wolin as saying that ''the timing appears calculated to maximize the impact'' of the ruling.
''Today's ruling says nothing about the merits, but what it does do is warn the A.C.L.U. to stop conducting holiday publicity stunts,'' Mr. Hasson said.
The lawyers said a transcript of the hearing had not been released, and no one answered the phone in the judge's chambers yesterday afternoon. Court employees said he and his assistant had probably left early because of the holiday.
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