Mormon plaza ruled private property
By The Associated Press
01.03.01
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| New plaza built by Mormon Church on Main Street of Salt Lake City as seen from 10th floor of Joseph Smith Memorial Building in October 2000. |
Editor's note: The ACLU filed an appeal to the decision on June 4.
SALT LAKE CITY — In a case that pitted free speech against property rights, a federal judge ruled yesterday that the Mormon church's Main Street Plaza is private property and that speech can be limited on the block across from the church's headquarters.
U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart's summary judgment derailed the American Civil Liberties Union's lawsuit against the city, which sold the property to the church.
"It's just not right that a treasured public asset like Main Street can be given over to one viewpoint," ACLU attorney Stephen Clark said after the ruling, adding that he would advise his office to appeal the ruling to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
City Attorney Roger Cutler, however, said he was pleased with the decision and confident that, if the case were appealed, they would win again.
"We'd prefer to have it over. But you saw how decisively the judge ruled. We feel that an appeal will be ruled the same way," he said.
The ACLU claimed that speech and behavior restrictions that the city allowed the church to institute violated the Constitution. The church was allowed to join as a defendant in the case to defend its property rights.
Clark argued that the plaza was a public forum, saying that the walkway through the plaza was a public sidewalk.
But Stewart sided with city and church attorneys, finding that the easement allowing the public to walk through the plaza did not preserve speech rights. He also said that there were other areas, including the public sidewalks on either end of the plaza, where speech is protected.
The Mormon church's Main Street Plaza opened in October in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City. The city sold the property to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for $8.1 million.
The terms of the sale included language restricting "offensive, indecent, obscene, vulgar, lewd or disorderly speech, dress or conduct," as well as smoking, sunbathing and loud radios. Proselytizing would be limited to Mormon missionaries.
Stewart avoided ruling on the specific restrictions. Those claims would have to wait for another case because the plaintiffs had not been cited for trespassing, he said.
Clark said he was unaware of anyone being kicked off the property. He predicted that when that happened, it would spark a new lawsuit.
The ACLU sued on behalf of the First Unitarian Church, Utahns for Fairness and the National Organization for Women.