In Fitzmaurice v. City of Quincy, (MA Super. Ct., Oct. 14, 2025), a Massachusetts state trial court issued a preliminary injunction barring installation, while the case proceeds, on a newly built public safety building of two ten-foot bronze statues depicting the Catholic patron saints of police and firefighters. The suit, filed by taxpayers, was brought under Art. 3 of the state constitution which requires equal treatment of all religious sects. The court held that while the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the Lemon test for federal Establishment Clause challenges, the Lemon test still applies to claims under Art. 2 and 3 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. The court said in part:
The Complaint here plausibly alleges that the statues at issue convey a message of endorsing one religion over others.... The statues, particularly when considered together, patently endorse Catholic beliefs....
Defendants contend that the statues have a secular purpose of inspiring police officers and their display ... neither advance nor prohibit religion... [T]he mayor's professed secular purpose offers nothing more than semantics.... It is impossible to strip the statue of its religious meaning to contrive a secular purpose....
ACLU Massachusetts issued a press release announcing the court's decision. A WCVB News report carries photos of the statues in question.
