Week in Review : COURTS : City’s Ruling on Menorah Upheld

A Christmas tree is a “mixed symbol” of culture and religion, but not so a menorah, a Superior Court commissioner ruled last week, upholding the City of Santa Ana’s right to regulate Hanukkah ceremonies in a public park.

The issue had landed in court after the Chabad congregation of Anaheim had requested and received the city’s permission to place a menorah in Sasscer Park. The American Civil Liberties Union protested that decision, saying the menorah represented an endorsement of religion, in violation of the constitutional separation of church and state.

In response, the city decided to allow the lighting of a menorah on each of the eight days of Hanukkah, but required that the menorah be removed after the ceremony each night.

The Chabad congregation went to court, where Orange County Superior Court Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer ruled in the city’s favor.

Each year, the city has allowed lights to be strung on a fir tree in the park during the Christmas season. “There is an enormous qualitative difference, frankly, between a lighted fir tree and a menorah,” Bauer said in ruling that the city has the right to regulate the “time, place and manner” of the menorah display in a public park.