The 10th Circuit Court, however, ruled that by giving up the easement — for roughly $5.3 million in compensation, including the community center — the city was getting more than 10 times its market value and rightfully disengaging itself from a potential constitutional entanglement with the church over control of the plaza.

The ACLU also argued the plaza is a historic public forum subject to First Amendment guarantees of free speech. Under the trade, the average speaker would have difficulty knowing when he ventured off public property and onto private, limited-speech land, the ACLU said.

Attorneys similarly pointed to Salt Lake City's "right of re-entry," which requires that the church maintain the plaza as a "landscaped space." The city's right of re-entry creates a similar situation to the city's pedestrian passage easement, which previously cut through the plaza.

The 10th Circuit likewise rejected that claim, saying traditional public forums can, in fact, be sold to private groups and no longer continue to be public forums. Moreover, the plaza, with its signs and decorative pavers, is significantly differentiated from the surrounding public sidewalks.

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