Group drops Ten Commandments lawsuit

The Society of Separationists has backed off its efforts to force the removal of a Ten Commandments monument in Pleasant Grove.

During a hearing Thursday, Society of Separationists attorney Brian Barnard moved to dismiss a suit filed against the city of Pleasant Grove over a stone Ten Commandments monument that has been displayed in a city park for decades. It is the last pending lawsuit by the organization against a Utah city involving a display of the Ten Commandments on city property.

U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins questioned the group's seemingly sudden move to have its own suit thrown out.

Outside of court, Barnard said the decision mainly had to do with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last June that upheld a Ten Commandments display outside the Texas State Capitol because it was part of a secular array of other monuments regarding the history of the state. However, justices ruled unconstitutional a display inside a Kentucky courthouse because the historic intent was religious in nature.

Barnard said the Society of Separationists felt Pleasant Grove's monument, which is located among an array of other historic monuments, was too similar to the Texas Capitol display for them to prevail in federal court.

In court, Barnard asked that the group's state claims under the Establishment Clause of the Utah Constitution be preserved so the group has the option to file suit in state court.

Edward White, attorney for Pleasant Grove, said he had no problem with the dismissal but asked that it be made "with prejudice" on all claims to prevent the group from refiling any other suit against Pleasant Grove over the monument.

Jenkins questioned whether by moving to dismiss its suit, the Society of Separationists was "conceding" that the Pleasant Grove monument is constitutional.

"I'm simply asking that the case be dismissed. I'm not asking for a ruling on the merits," Barnard said, adding his clients were not conceding anything.

Jenkins then called into question Barnard's participation in another suit against Pleasant Grove by the religious group Summum. While Society of Separationists wants the Ten Commandments removed because it's religious in nature, Summum wants to erect a religious monument next to the Ten Commandments espousing its Seven Aphorisms.