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Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Highway Cross Appeal


On Monday, October 31, 2011, the United States Supreme Court voted 8-1 to decline to hear an appeal of a lower court’s decision that the placement of 12 foot high crosses on the side of Utah highways to honor fallen state troopers violated the First Amendment's prohibition on government establishment of religion.

The high court’s refusal to take the case means that the 10th Circuit Court of Appeal’s ruling that the 14 crosses erected on public property constitute a government endorsement of Christianity will stand.  

Although the Supreme Court provided no reason for its refusal to hear the appeal, Justice Clarence Thomas issued a 19 page dissent, saying that the court had rejected “an opportunity to provide clarity to an establishment-clause jurisprudence in shambles.” 

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