Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum

555 U.S. 460 (2009)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Pioneer Park currently contains 15 permanent displays, 11 of which were donated by private groups or individuals. These include a historic granary, a wishing well, the City's first fire station, a September 11 monument, and a Ten Commandments monument donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1971. P is a religious organization, and P's president wrote a letter to D's mayor requesting permission to erect a 'stone monument,' which would contain 'the Seven Aphorisms of SUMMUM'1 and be similar in size and nature to the Ten Commandments monument. D denied the requests and explained that its practice was to limit monuments in the Park to those that 'either (1) directly relate to the history of D, or (2) were donated by groups with long-standing ties to the D community.' The following year, D passed a resolution putting this policy into writing. P filed this action against D asserting, among other claims, that petitioners had violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment by accepting the Ten Commandments monument but rejecting the proposed Seven Aphorisms monument. P sought a preliminary injunction directing D to permit P to erect its monument in Pioneer Park. The District Court denied P's preliminary injunction request. A panel of the Tenth Circuit reversed. D could not reject the Seven Aphorisms monument unless it had a compelling justification that could not be served by more narrowly tailored means. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.