ACLU Sues City Over Jesus Painting

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"We did not file this lawsuit because the ACLU is anti-religion ... We did file this lawsuit because we believe this display is clearly in violation of the law," said Vincent Booth, president and acting executive director of the Louisiana ACLU chapter.

The suit was filed on behalf of an unidentified person who complained to the ACLU about the picture. Named as defendants were the city of Slidell, St. Tammany Parish and City Judge James Lamz. St. Tammany Parish is being sued because it partially funds the court, the ACLU said.

On Saturday, Lamz said the picture would stay up unless a federal judge ordered it removed. He said he didn't believe the portrait violates the Constitution, but the issue should be decided in federal court.

Lamz could not comment Tuesday because of the pending litigation, his office said.

Before refusing to take the painting down, Lamz consulted Douglas Laycock, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School who has argued before the Supreme Court.

Laycock said he told Lamz that the legal issues in the case aren't clear-cut and could set legal precedent.

"I don't know how far the two sides will want to push things," Laycock added.

The painting has been on display at the courthouse for nearly a decade and hadn't provoked any complaints prior to the ACLU's recent objections, said Michael Johnson, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian civil rights group representing the city and parish.

Johnson, whose group is often at odds with the ACLU, said the painting sends an inclusive message of equal justice under the law. He said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that similar displays in public forums are constitutional.

A portrait of Jesus Christ that hangs in the lobby of Slidell City Court violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and its mandate calling for the separation of church and state, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Louisiana ACLU.

The organization filed the suit in U.S. District Court in New Orleans after court officials decided over the weekend to leave the portrait in place. The American Civil Liberties Union had given the court until Monday to remove it or face a lawsuit.

Vincent Booth, acting executive director and board president for the ACLU chapter, said after filing the suit that he thinks the portrait, along with lettering beneath that says, "To know peace, obey these laws," violates established U.S. Supreme Court law. The establishment clause of the First Amendment requires that states take a neutral stance on religion, according to the ACLU's complaint.

City Court Judge Jim Lamz, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, said Saturday that he had consulted with a constitutional scholar at the University of Michigan before concluding that the display's constitutionality remains an open legal question. In deciding to leave the display on the wall, Lamz said he was resigned to a lawsuit.

Lamz declined to comment further Tuesday, saying through a spokeswoman that he is forbidden by judicial canon to comment on open lawsuits, even though he is a participant in this case as a defendant, not as a judge.

He referred questions to Mike Johnson, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian organization that has agreed to represent the court for free. Johnson, who is based in Shreveport, did not return a call Tuesday for comment, but he did release a statement.

"The ideas expressed in this painting aren't specific to any one faith, and they certainly don't establish a single state religion," he said in the statement. "The reason Americans enjoy equal justice is because we are all created equal, endowed by (our) creator with certain unalienable rights. This painting is a clear reflection of the ideas in the Declaration of Independence."

A local priest has identified the portrait as "Christ the Savior," a 16th century Russian Orthodox icon. It depicts Jesus holding a book open to biblical passages, written in Russian, that deal with judgment. The ACLU says the book is the New Testament.

The dispute began June 20 when the ACLU sent a letter to the court saying it had received a written complaint about the display. The organization said the court must remove the display or face a lawsuit. The court was given one week to comply with the ACLU's request, but the organization extended the deadline at Lamz's request.

The ACLU is representing an anonymous complainant who said he has come into "direct and unwelcome contact" with the display, and he expects to do so again to fulfill legal obligations at the court. The display hangs in the court's lobby, which has only one main entrance for visitors, according to the lawsuit.

The display has been in place since the courthouse opened in 1997 and has been maintained with taxpayer money, the lawsuit says. The display endorses the Christian faith, or specifically the Eastern Orthodox sect of Christianity, to the detriment of all other Christian denominations, including the Catholic, Baptist and Methodist faiths, and all non-Christian religions, according to the suit.

The suit also names the city of Slidell and St. Tammany Parish as defendants, saying each finances the court's operations. Slidell Mayor Ben Morris, who has compared the ACLU to "book-burning Nazis" and the Taliban in Afghanistan, said Tuesday that he is relying on the attorneys to continue the fight.

"My rhetoric is over with," he said. "I've expressed myself, and I think I've been fairly clear."

Booth said the ACLU thinks governments shouldn't favor one religion, as the Taliban do. He said the mayor's statement was "ironic and demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of what the Taliban is about."

He also praised residents for holding a rally last week to protest the ACLU's actions, calling the decision to do so "wonderful" and saying the event illustrates the freedoms available to people in the United States.