AG Says Religious Displays on Public Property Okay if Balanced

Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli says religious displays on government property are legal, provided other faiths and secular beliefs are represented.

The Attorney General's opinion came in response to a question from Delegate Bob Marshall about religious displays in Loudoun County. 

Tobias:  Delegate Marshall was asking for the opinion, he said because I think the courthouse in Leesburg, he said, last holiday season banned almost every display.

University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias:

Tobias:  But, this opinion seems to say that displays can be used.

Other counties have debated over whether is was legal to ban public displays like Nativity scenes from courthouse grounds because it is county-owned property.  And Tobias says this probably isn't the last word.

Tobias:  Even he admits that jurisprudence is very unclear and so what may happen if there are questions is there would be litigation.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <blockquote> <ul> <ol> <li> <p><br>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options

By submitting this form, you accept the Mollom privacy policy.