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2nd Circuit Narrows Remedy Against Postal Unit Operating On Church Premises

By Howard M. Friedman

In Cooper v. U.S. Postal Service, (2d Cir., Aug. 20, 2009), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals held that religious displays by the Full Gospel Interdenominational Church in the Contract Postal Unit it operates along side its ministry and outreach efforts in a store front facility in Manchester, Connecticut violate the Establishment Clause. Holding that plaintiff had standing to raise the Establishment Clause challenge, the court concluded however that the Establishment Clause breach "is limited to the area of the CPU performing the public function; all other areas of the CPU remain the province of the private entity." Therefore, the only remedy the court required was removal of religious material from the postal counter and related areas, along with installation of "visual cues [that] distinguish the space operating as a postal facility from the space functioning as the private property of the Church." The court said this could be a low railing or stanchions with hanging ropes of the sort that are found in a theater. The lower court had issued a broader injunction. (See prior posting.)

The court also attempted to limit its decision to the facts of the case, saying that plaitiff's complaint was that he became an unwilling participant in religious activity when he entered the postal facility. It went on: "Ordinarily, when CPUs are housed in churches or synagogues or monasteries or mosques, customers are alerted to the facility?s religious status by cues such as ecclesiastical architecture, schedules of religious services, and religious iconography or statuary." Here however a customer might become confused because the store front "gives no visual cues to alert its customers to its function as a Christian outreach facility." AP yesterday reported on the decision.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on August 21, 2009 (boomark / email).