Judge Rejects ACLU request for TRO in Wall Township, New Jersey

Dec 23, 1999

Federal District Judge Alfred M. Wolin today rejected a request from the ACLU of New Jersey for an “emergency” temporary restraining order that would have forced Wall Township to remove its nativity scene from public display on Christmas Eve. The President of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Kevin J. Hasson, argued against the request on behalf of Wall Township and Mayor Michael Fitzgerald in this morning’s hearing at the federal courthouse in Newark.

“The judge sent a strong message to the ACLU today,” Hasson observed. “He will not tolerate this sort of last-minute grandstanding under the guise of claims that an ‘emergency’ requires it.” The suit had been filed last February, just days after the ACLU lost a nearly identical case defended by the Becket Fund involving Jersey City.

Judge Wolin said today that there was “no legitimate reason” for the ACLU to wait so long to seek an injunction, and added that the request was clearly “designed to maximize the impact” of a ruling in the media and not for legal reasons. It its brief opposing the ACLU request, the Becket Fund had argued that their “eleventh-hour motion for injunctive relief exhibits a clear lack of diligence on their part.”

Wall Township Mayor Michael Fitzgerald, who attended the hearing, said afterward that he was “very happy with the judge’s ruling. We were offended by the timing of the ACLU’s filing, and obviously we weren’t alone in that regard.” He said that the township holiday display, which includes not only a nativity scene but also four large candy cane banners, a menorah banner, poinsettias and a sign saying “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Hanukkah,” would remain up throughout the holidays. “The display will remain the way that it is, and we believe it’s not only constitutional but also proper and in keeping with our year-long observation of various holidays and cultural traditions.”

A hearing on the merits of the ACLU lawsuit will occur sometime early next year. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a bipartisan and interfaith public interest law firm that protects the free expression of all religious traditions.

Relevant Cases

• ACLU-NJ v. Township of Wall, N.J.