News Release
For Immediate Release: 7.13.26
Contact: Peyton Drew, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
Connecticut Officials Barred Private Holiday Nativity Display from Capitol Building Because It’s “Religious”
Non-profit group asks Legislature to change its unlawful policy and approve the Nativity display for this Christmas season
Hartford, CT—First Liberty Institute and the international law firm Jones Day sent a letter to Connecticut’s Joint Committee on Legislative Management on behalf of the Family Institute of Connecticut (FIC) after it was prohibited from displaying a small Nativity in the state Capitol building in December. The Committee’s policy allows private displays in the Capitol unless they are “religious in nature.” The letter asks the Committee to remove the discriminatory provision from its policy and allow the private Nativity display this Christmas season.
You can read the letter here.
“The ‘no religious display’ policy is such a blatant violation of the First Amendment that it must have been an oversight,” said Roger Byron, Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute. “The law is clear that barring a religious viewpoint from a public forum like this violates the Free Speech Clause. Hopefully the Committee changes its policy and makes further legal action unnecessary.”
“The FIC is just asking for equal treatment,” said Andrew Lelling, Partner at Jones Day and lead counsel for the FIC. “No one should be censored or denied access because his viewpoint is a religious one.”
In December, Leslie Wolfgang, the Director of Public Policy for the FIC, submitted an application to the Joint Committee on Legislative Management to display a “small nativity on a table” at a public area in the Capitol building. The Committee permits private displays and exhibits in public areas of the Capitol building, and the State displayed religious symbols, such as menorahs, in the Capitol and Legislative Office Buildings during last year’s holiday season. In response to her application, Ms. Wolfgang was told that the Committee’s policy is “not to permit religious displays by outside organizations in these public places.” The Committee further asserted that the Nativity scene was “purely religious in nature,” so “displaying the nativity scene, especially on its own, in the State Capitol lobby could be seen as government endorsement of Christianity, which is impermissible.”
In the letter, attorneys state, “The Committee’s position is legally incorrect, and the Committee itself has violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by maintaining a facially unlawful policy and denying FIC’s application. . . . [T]he Establishment Clause certainly does not forbid the display of a Nativity scene at the State Capitol, and the Committee’s denial of FIC’s request based on its religious nature is viewpoint discrimination in violation of the Free Speech Clause.”
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About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
To arrange an interview, contact Peyton Drew at media@firstliberty.org.
