Christian Nationalists and the Trump administration continue to assail the separation of church and state. Americans United isn’t about to put up with that – we’re fighting back!
AU’s legal team filed three important lawsuits recently, and there are more to come.
Here’s a roundup of our recent activity:
Fitzmaurice v. City of Quincy: Thomas Koch, the mayor of Quincy, Mass., unilaterally decided to place large statues of two Catholic saints outside the entrance to the Quincy Police Department’s new headquarters. The lawsuit notes that Koch had already commissioned the statues – with a cost to taxpayers of at least $850,000 – by the time the plans were uncovered by local media.
Americans United and its allies in the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Massachusetts, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) are in state court representing a group of plaintiffs of diverse faiths who don’t want their local government to use publicly owned property to promote specific religious beliefs.
Stinson v. Fayetteville School District No. 1: This case, filed in federal court, challenges a new Arkansas law that requires the Ten Commandments be posted in every classroom and library of all public elementary and secondary schools. Seven families, who are Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, or non-religious, are serving as plaintiffs. The ACLU, the ACLU of Arkansas, and FFRF are partnering with AU in this lawsuit.
The case has generated a huge amount of media coverage. See here for just one example.
Americans United v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: This case, filed in federal court, asserts that the Department of Veterans Affairs is violating federal law by refusing to fulfill AU’s public-records request for information on how the department is responding to President Donald Trump’s mandate to investigate alleged anti-Christian bias within the VA.
In a press release, AU President and CEO Rachel Laser asserted, “The Trump administration created the Anti-Christian Bias Task Force based on the false claim that there’s rampant Christian persecution within the federal government. We’ve called their bluff and demanded that they prove it – show us the evidence of widespread anti-Christian discrimination. So far, the Trump administration is ignoring our request in violation of federal transparency law – what are they hiding?”
But there’s more to come! Last month, Americans United announced plans to sue over a pending Texas law that requires public schools in the state to display the Ten Commandments “in a conspicuous place in each classroom.” The bill mandates that the displays be no smaller than 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall and that the Commandments be set forth “in a size and typeface that is legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom.” It goes so far as to specify that a particular version of the Ten Commandments, which is Protestant, be used.
Perhaps Christian Nationalists and the Trump administration thought they could just roll over Americans United. We’re showing them they’ve got another thing coming.
