Pray for Jay, November 12

Constitutional litigator Jay Sekulow will argue Pleasant Grove City v. Summum before the U.S. Supreme Court tomorrow.

Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), will argue on behalf of Pleasant Grove City, Utah. The case centers on a distinction between government speech and private speech.

A three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled in favor of a group called Summum to erect its own monument of "Seven Aphorisms" in a city park in Pleasant Grove, the site of a long-standing display of the Ten Commandments donated to the city decades ago. When the full appeals court convened en banc to rehear the case, it split 6-6 and decided not to try again. This left the three-judge panel's decision undisturbed.

The ACLJ asked the Supreme Court to take the case and overturn the lower court decision that private parties have a First Amendment right to put up the monuments of their choosing in a city park, unless the city takes away all other donated monuments. Sekulow argues that the appellate panel's ruling runs counter to well-established precedent that the government has to be neutral toward private speech, but it does not have to be neutral in its own speech.

"In short, accepting a Statue of Liberty does not compel a government to accept a Statue of Tyranny." Unless reversed, the Tenth Circuit ruling will "force local governments to remove long-standing and well established patriotic, religious and historical displays."

Sekulow rehearsed his arguments under the pressure of a "moot court" at Regent University's School of Law Friday afternoon. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments tomorrow, November 12.