Christmas Rescued from GrinchDec 6, 1999
Becket Fund President and General Counsel Kevin J. Hasson today hailed a ruling by a federal judge in Cincinnati that the Christmas holiday given to U.S. government employees does not violate the Constitution. The Becket Fund represented three federal employees who were defendant-intervenors in the case.
Judge Susan J. Dlott granted motions by the Becket Fund and Justice Department lawyers to dismiss a suit brought by Richard Ganulin, who claimed that by giving its employees Christmas day off, the government was “imposing Christian religious beliefs or Christian cultural beliefs on the citizens of the nation.”
Hasson declared that “this decision is not just a victory for the Christmas holiday. It’s a victory for the place of religion in American culture. You can’t weed religion out of the culture without uprooting the whole culture in the process.”
In her decision, Judge Dlott was more poetic, beginning the decision by observing that “the Establishment and Santa [are] both worthwhile Claus(es).”
The case, Richard Ganulin v. U.S. and Jeffery Niemer, Anne Dolan and Patty Hemsath, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a bipartisan and interfaith public interest law firm that protects the free expression of all religious traditions. Relevant Cases
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