Stephen Maturin

. . . it looks like Mormons will get their way anyhoo.

You'll probably remember that a few years back Salt Lake City closed two blocks of a public street and sold it to the LDS Church. The church already owned the property on both sides of the street and wanted to make the whole area into one big plaza. The city retained a public passage easement over the former street but authorized the church to prohibit smoking, potty language, inappropriate dress and other un-Mormon behavior on the property.

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals shot down the restrictions, holding that the easement was a public forum and that the restrictions violated First Amendment free speech principles. Today the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal.

A win for free speech over religious despotism? Well, not so fast. The Post article linked above indicates that Salt Lake's city council -- all Mormons, of course -- voted last month to abandon the easement and thereby surrender complete control of the property to the church.

RufusAtticus

At least the case caused them to stop removing the bricks in the wall.

Babylon Sister

A couple of blocks in downtown SLC? So what? The US government recently sold 940 acres of prime historical site in Wyoming to the Mormons.