- The Thomas More Law Center, representing a Catholic League parent and her two minor children, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case that allows New York City to ban nativity scenes in public schools; the schools allow the Jewish menorah and Islamic star and crescent.
This case already has been before the federal district court and the court of appeals. Despite the fact that our side has twice lost, Bill Donohue is not discouraged. It has been his goal all along to get the U.S. Supreme Court to rule definitively on this matter, one way or the other. However, it is critical that the high court accept this case; otherwise the circuit court decision stands.
At stake is government sanctioned religious discrimination. The brief filed by the Thomas More Law Center cites a 1982 case wherein the Supreme Court ruled that “The clearest command of the Establishment Clause is that one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another.” And that is what New York City has done: by allowing some religious symbols and disallowing others, it has shown preferential treatment.
Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center, and Robert Muise, the trial attorney handling this case, are eminently qualified to pursue this matter. The Catholic League was only too happy to secure a Catholic League member, Andrea Sokoros, to test this outrageous policy in the courts.
