Freedom from Religion Found., Inc. v. Connellsville Area Sch. Dist.

• Decision Date: 28 August 2015
• Docket Number: No. 2:12–cv–1406.,2:12–cv–1406.
• Citation: 127 F.Supp.3d 283
• Parties: FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION, INC., Doe 4, by Doe 4's next friend and parent, Doe 5, who also sues on Doe 5's own behalf, Plaintiffs, v. CONNELLSVILLE AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Pennsylvania

127 F.Supp.3d 283

FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION, INC., Doe 4, by Doe 4's next friend and parent, Doe 5, who also sues on Doe 5's own behalf, Plaintiffs,

v.CONNELLSVILLE AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant.

No. 2:12–cv–1406.

United States District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania.

Filed Aug. 28, 2015.

Marcus B. Schneider, Alex J. Barker, Steele Schneider, Pittsburgh, PA, for Plaintiffs.

Amie A. Thompson, John W. Smart, Andrews & Price, Pittsburgh, PA, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

TERRENCE F. McVERRY, Senior District Judge.

This case involves a large, granite monument bearing the text of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of a junior high school in the Connellsville Area School District. Freedom from Religion Foundation, Inc. ("FFRF"), Doe 4, by Doe 4's next of friend and parent, Doe 5, who also sues on Doe 5's own behalf ("Plaintiffs"), have challenged the existence of the monument on public school grounds under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The parties have filed cross-motions for summary judgment. ECF Nos. 37, 47. The motions have been fully briefed, and the factual record has been thoroughly developed via the parties' concise statements of material fact ("CSMF"), their respective responses, and the attached appendices. ECF Nos. 38–46, 48–49, 52–57. Accordingly, the cross-motions are ripe for disposition.

I. Background

The Monument

The monument was donated to the Connellsville Joint School System, now the the Fraternal Order of Eagles.¹ The monument is 54 inches tall, 32 inches wide, and eight inches thick and weighs about 3,000 pounds. It sits alone in a grassy area near the entrance to the auditorium of Connellsville Area Junior High School, which houses seventh and eighth grades,² facing a sidewalk that runs adjacent to a parking lot/street area where school buses line up to drop off and pick up students. Fourteen feet separate the monument from the sidewalk, and 22 feet separate the monument from the parking lot/street area. There is a fire hydrant located several feet to the left and slightly in front of the monument, a tree several feet behind the monument, a "DO NOT ENTER" sign several feet to the right and slightly in front of the monument, and there is some shrubbery several feet to the right of the monument. There are not, however, any other monuments or displays of any sort in the vicinity.³ The text of the monument, which is visible from the sidewalk, reads:

The Ten Commandments

I AM the LORD thy God.

I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

II. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.

III. Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.

IV. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

V. Thou shalt not kill.

VI. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

VII. Thou shalt not steal.

VIII. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

IX. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.

X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

At the top of the monument, there are two tablets inscribed with unintelligible ancient script surrounded by a floral motif. An all-seeing eye, like that on the one dollar bill, sits between the two tablets, and an eagle grasping an American flag is immediately below the all-seeing eye. Below the text are the superimposed Greek letters Chi and Rho, which represent Christ, and two Stars of David, which are symbols of the Jewish faith. At the bottom of the monument, there is an inscription indicating that the monument was donated to the School District by the Eagles.

The Joint School Committee of the Connellsville Joint School System voted to accept the monument from the Eagles at its September 11, 1956, meeting. A dedication for the monument was held on June 3, 1957. A contemporaneous article in the Connellsville Daily Courier reported that James A. Pujia, state president of the Eagles, presided over the ceremony. George A. Strine, a representative of the Grand Aerie of the Eagles, presented the monument to Robert A. Beard, president of the Connellsville Joint School Committee. Reverend R.A. Nelson, pastor of the Albright Evangelical United Brethren Church in South Connellsville, delivered an invocation and benediction. Several civic leaders and school officials, including Connellsville Mayor Abe I. Daniels, were also on hand.

In his presentation, Strine called "the Commandments ‘the golden yardstick of human behaviour [sic].’ " He elaborated:

Without a moral code; men fail to be good neighbors and nations do not live at peace with one another. Without a moral code, we are soon lost in personal or national frustration. But, given a firm morality, peace inside men and among nations becomes a reality. Such a code is the Commandments, written with the fingers of God. Men have enacted millions of laws in an effort to live together as neighbors and nations, but all those man-made laws together have not added to, or subtracted from, or improved upon the simple truth of the Commandments themselves.

Mayor Daniels echoed those sentiments in his welcoming remarks, "declar[ing] that current social conditions demand serious application of the Ten Commandments in daily life." Pujia added that "[t]here can be no better guidance for youth than God's laws." Guy D. Tressler, Jr., president of the local aerie, was quoted as saying that "the monolith [was] to ‘inspire all who pause to view the Ten Commandments with a renewed respect for the law of God which is our greatest strength against the forces that threaten our way of life.’ " Following the presentation, "students filed past the monolith."

The monument is one of over a hundred donated throughout the country by the Eagles in the 1950s and 1960s. Minnesota Judge E.J. Ruegemer, the head of the Eagles' Youth Guidance Committee, hatched the plan to donate the monuments in the early 1950s.⁴ After serving as a juvenile court judge, Judge Ruegemer came to believe that "troubled youths" might benefit from exposure to the Commandments, which he called "one of mankind's earliest and long-lasting codes of conduct." The Commandments, in his view, would provide these youths with a "common code of conduct." He claimed that it was "never [his] intention that this was to be religious instruction of any kind." To effectuate his plan, he decided to post printed copies of the Commandments in juvenile courtrooms across the country and looked to the Eagles for financial support. The Eagles were initially reluctant to fund the program because they felt it might be viewed as divisive and sectarian. However, after Judge Ruegemer and others decided on a version of the Ten Commandments that they viewed as "non-sectarian," or not identified with any particular religion or religious denomination, the Eagles agreed to lend their support.⁵ While the plan was developing, Cecil B. Demille, producer of The Ten Commandments movie, contacted Judge Ruegemer to praise the idea, but he suggested that it could be improved by placing the text of the Commandments on bronze plaques. With that in mind, Judge Ruegemer eventually decided to post the Commandments on granite monuments instead of paper. In total, the Eagles donated about 140 to 150 monuments to communities throughout the country. "The total number of monuments donated by aeries across the country is higher, however, because some aeries commissioned locally constructed versions modeled after those produced in Minnesota." Card v. Everett, 520 F.3d 1009, 1013 (9th Cir.2008). A number of these have been the subject of litigation.

Plaintiffs' Contact with the Monument

Doe 4 was a seventh-grade student at Junior High East when this lawsuit was filed in September 2012. She encountered the monument on several occasions while she was outside for gym class. She also observed the monument during a fire drill. Seeing the monument "[k]ind of" bothered her "[b]ecause [she is] not religious." In addition, she testified, "I know other people who aren't religious or just simply don't have that religion. It just bothers me that they're like encouraging the Ten Commandments."

Doe 5 is Doe 4's mother. She is an atheist and member of FFRF, which is a national nonprofit corporation dedicated to promoting the separation of church and state and educating the public on non-theism. She has lived in Connellsville her whole life. Although she might have been aware of the monument whenever she was a student in the School District, "[i]t was most definitely on [her] radar when [her] son began attending ... Junior High East in 2007." She worked as a substitute teacher at Junior High East from 2008 to 2010. Once Doe 4 began attending Junior High East in 2011, Doe 5 visited the school on numerous occasions to meet with administrators and guidance counselors and to drop Doe 4 off at the school. She typically parked her car in the parking lot in front of the main entrance to the building, from which point she could see the monument. She believes that the monument's presence on school property "violates separation of church and state" and "helps to establish the endorsement of a religion ...." While she concedes that "some of the Commandments have some ethical value," she also "believe[s] several of the Commandments themselves promote Christianity." Nevertheless, she did not voice concerns about the monument's presence until 2012, when she left a voicemail for an unidentified building and grounds employee about the monument. Thereafter, she made contact with the FFRF, in an attempt to have the monument removed.

Complaints Arise and the School District Responds

The monument went without legal challenge for 55 years. That changed in August 2012, when the group Americans United for Separation of Church and State sent a letter to School District Superintendent Dr. Daniel C. Lujetic demanding that the monument be removed. After receiving the letter, Lujetic consulted with...