I can't tell from the news story whether the bunny was part of the secretary's personal space or whether it was in a space concededly under the control of the city council, although the story suggests the latter (it appears that the city council president directed that the bunny be removed, not that she directed the secretary to remove the bunny). But, if the latter, it seems to me that the legal issue here is simple: The city council has no obligation to display anything at all, and [subject to Pico- like questions about motivation, here of anti-religious animus] removing something out of concern, perhaps ill-founded or over- sensitive, about causing offense would not seem to raise any serious legal question.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Volokh, Eugene" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2006 1:23 am Subject: "St. Paul City Office Boots Easter Bunny" > The AP reports, http://www.beliefnet.com/story/188/ story_18830_1.html: > "A small Easter display was removed from the City Hall lobby on > Wednesday out of concern that it would offend non-Christians. > > "The display -- a cloth Easter bunny, pastel-colored eggs and a sign > with the words 'Happy Easter' -- was put up by a City Council > secretary.They were not purchased with city money. > > "Tyrone Terrill, the city's human rights director, asked that the > decorations be removed. Terrill said no citizen had complained to > him.... > > "In 2001, red poinsettias were briefly banned from a holiday > display [in > City Hall] because they were associated with Christmas." > > I should mention that Human Rights Director Terrill also filed a > complaint against the St. Paul Press newspaper claiming that a > raciallythemed cartoon created a hostile public accommodations > environment, but > eventually dropped it as a result of public pressure. See Charge of > Discrimination, Terrill v. Saint Paul Pioneer Press, case no. A-3497 > (St. Paul Dep't of Hum. Rts. docketed June 7, 1999); Charles > Laszewski,Human Rights Complaint Against Newspaper Appears to Be a > First, ST. PAUL > PIONEER PRESS, June 11, 1999, at 4D; Charles Laszewski, Terrill > Says He > Will Drop Newspaper Bias Charge, ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, June 23, > 1999,at 6B. > > Eugene > _______________________________________________ > To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see > http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw > > Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed > as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages > that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members > can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. >
begin:vcard n:Tushnet;Mark fn:Mark Tushnet,tushnet tel;fax:202-662-9497 tel;work:202-662-1906 org:Georgetown University Law Center; adr:;;600 New Jersey Ave. NW;Washington;DC;20001; version:2.1 email;internet:[EMAIL PROTECTED] end:vcard
_______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
