808
Stevens, J., dissenting
convincing, because it assumes that all reasonable viewers know all about the history of Capitol Square—a highly unlikely supposition.14 But the plurality's argument fails on its own terms, because each of the three previous displays conveyed the same message of approval and endorsement that this one does.
Most significant, of course, is the menorah that stood in Capitol Square during Chanukah. The display of that religious symbol should be governed by the same rule as the display of the cross.15 In my opinion, both displays are
14 Justice O'Connor apparently would not extend Establishment Clause protection to passersby who are unaware of Capitol Square's history. See ante, at 780-782. Thus, she sees no reason to distinguish an intimate knowledge of the square's history from the knowledge that a cross is a religious symbol or that the statehouse is the statehouse. Ante, at 780-781. But passersby, including schoolchildren, traveling salesmen, and tourists as much as those who live next to the statehouse, are members of the body politic, and they are equally entitled to be free from government endorsement of religion.
15 A fragmented Court reached a different conclusion in County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union, Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, 492 U. S. 573 (1989). In that case, a majority of this Court decided that a crèche placed by a private group inside a public building violated the Establishment Clause, id., at 598-602, but that a menorah placed alongside a Christmas tree and a "sign saluting liberty" outside that same building did not. Id., at 613-621 (opinion of Blackmun, J.); id., at 632-637 (opinion of O'Connor, J.); id., at 663-667 (opinion of Kennedy, J., joined by Rehnquist, C. J., and White and Scalia, JJ.). The two Justices who provided the decisive votes to distinguish these situations relied on the presence of the tree and the sign to find that the menorah, in context, was not a religious, but a secular, symbol of liberty. Id., at 613-621 (opinion of Black-mun, J.); id., at 632-637 (opinion of O'Connor, J.). It was apparently in reliance on the outcome of the Allegheny case that Ohio believed it could provide a forum for the menorah (which appeared in Capitol Square with a state-owned Christmas tree and a banner reading, "Season's Greetings") and yet could not provide one for the cross. See App. 169. Given the state of the law at the time, Ohio's decision was hardly unreasonable; but I cannot support a view of the Establishment Clause that permits a State effectively to endorse some kinds of religious symbols but not others. I
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