Religious Freedoms
Establishment Clause in the Public Square
Alleghany County v. Pittsburgh ACLU (1989)
492 U.S. 573 (1989)
Vote: 6-3
Decision: Reversed in part and affirmed in part
Majority: Blackmun joined by Brennan, Marshall, Stevens, O’Connor
Plurality: Blackmun, joined by Stevens, O’Connor
Concurrence: O’Connor, joined by Brennan, Stevens
Concur/Dissent: Stevens joined by Brennan, Marshall
Concur/Dissent: Brennan, joined by Marshall, Stevens
Concur/Dissent: Kennedy, joined by Rehnquist, White, Scalia
JUSTICE BLACKMUN announced the judgment of the Court.
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This litigation concerns the constitutionality of two recurring holiday displays located on public property in downtown Pittsburgh. The first is a creche placed on the Grand Staircase of the Allegheny County Courthouse. The second is a Chanukah menorah placed just outside the City County Building, next to a Christmas tree and a sign saluting liberty. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that each display violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because each has the impermissible effect of endorsing religion. We agree that the creche display has that unconstitutional effect, but reverse the Court of Appeals’ judgment regarding the menorah display.
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The county courthouse is owned by Allegheny County and is its seat of government. It houses the offices of the county commissioners, controller, treasurer, sheriff, and clerk of court. Civil and criminal trials are held there. The “main,” “most beautiful,” and “most public” part of the courthouse is its Grand Staircase, set into one arch and surrounded by others, with arched windows serving as a backdrop … Since 1981, the county has permitted the Holy Name Society, a Roman Catholic group, to display a creche in the county courthouse during the Christmas holiday season. Christmas, we note perhaps needlessly, is the holiday when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, whom they believe to be the Messiah. Western churches have celebrated Christmas Day on December 25 since the fourth century. As observed in this Nation, Christmas has a secular, as well as a religious, dimension …
The creche includes figures of the infant Jesus, Mary, Joseph, farm animals, shepherds, and wise men, all placed in or before a wooden representation of a manger, which has at its crest an angel bearing a banner that proclaims “Gloria in Excelsis Deo!” … Altogether, the creche, the fence, the poinsettias, and the trees occupied a substantial amount of space on the Grand Staircase.
The City-County Building is separate and a block removed from the county courthouse and, as the name implies, is jointly owned by the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. The city’s portion of the building houses the city’s principal offices, including the mayor’s. Id. at 17. The city is responsible for the building’s Grant Street entrance, which has three rounded arches supported by columns. Id. at 194, 207. For a number of years, the city has had a la