Texas pays over $358K to end lawsuit over atheist group’s Bill of Rights ‘nativity’ scene
Texas has paid more than $358,000 to end litigation centered on the censorship of a secular “nativity” display by an atheist group that was placed at the state Capitol building.
An appeals court had ruled in favor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation regarding its Bill of Rights nativity display last year, awarding the atheist legal organization attorneys' fees and other costs.
FFRF announced Tuesday that Texas had finally paid $358,073.67 in attorneys' fees and costs, with $184,727.11 of that reimbursing FFRF for their staff attorney time.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
“We’re pleased this federal lawsuit can finally be put to rest,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president, in the announcement on Tuesday.
“But had Abbott only done the right thing from the start, or at least accepted the decision of the federal court back in 2017, Texas taxpayers would have been spared most of these attorneys’ fees.”
In December 2015, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the removal of an FFRF display at the state Capitol that featured a message celebrating the Winter Solstice and had three founding fathers and the Statue of Liberty standing over a copy of the Bill of Rights.
In a letter to the Texas State Preservation Board, Abbott argued that the display was a “juvenile parody” of the Christmas Nativity scene found elsewhere on Capitol grounds.
"The Constitution does not require Texas to allow displays in its Capitol that violate general standards of decency and intentionally disrespect the beliefs and values of many of our fellow Texans," wrote Abbott. "Far from promoting morals and the general welfare, the exhibit deliberately mocks Christians and Christianity.”
FFRF filed suit in 2016, with United States District Judge Sam Sparks issuing an order in October 2017 partly ruling in favor of the secular group, concluding that removing the display constituted viewpoint discrimination.
“Government restrictions on speech in a limited forum must be viewpoint neutral,” wrote Sparks. “Defendants have justified removal of FFRF's exhibit by arguing the exhibit's satirical tone rendered it offensive to some portion of the population. That is viewpoint discrimination.”
In January 2023, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit unanimously ruled that Texas did, in fact, “violate the First Amendment by excluding the Foundation’s exhibit from a limited public forum.”
