NATION IN BRIEF : VERMONT : Court Rules Against Menorah Display

A federal appeals court ruled that the display of a 16-foot menorah in a Burlington, Vt., park is unconstitutional because it violates the separation of church and state. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York reversed a lower court’s decision allowing the city to issue a permit to a Jewish group to erect the menorah in a park next to City Hall. The appeals judges based their decision on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in July that a creche inside a Pittsburgh courthouse was not permissible but a menorah in front of a nearby government building was because it was paired with a Christmas tree.