Summum Sues Pleasant Grove Again-- Now In State Court

The Summum organization has been attempting for several years to obtain permission to put up a Seven Aphorism's monument in a park in Pleasant Grove City, Utah. The park already contained a number of other monuments, including the Ten Commandments.  The city's refusal has been upheld against federal constitutional challenges by the U.S. Supreme Court (see prior posting) as well as subsequently on remand by the Utah federal district court. (See prior posting.) However the federal district court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction to hear Summum's claim that the city's refusal violates Utah's state constitution. The Provo (UT) Daily Herald today reports that now Summum has filed another lawsuit in state court raising the state constitutional claims. It alleges that the state establishment clause (Art. I, Sec. 4) is broader than the federal establishment clause.