Gilfillan v. City of Philadelphia

480 F. Supp. 1161, 28 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 526, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8638
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 9, 1979
DocketCiv. A. 79-3377
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 480 F. Supp. 1161 (Gilfillan v. City of Philadelphia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gilfillan v. City of Philadelphia, 480 F. Supp. 1161, 28 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 526, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8638 (E.D. Pa. 1979).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

RAYMOND J. BRODERICK, District Judge.

Never before in the history of the City of Philadelphia have a million people peacefully assembled to hear a man of God proclaim the gospel of love and man’s need to live with freedom and dignity. The visit of Pope John Paul II on October 3 and 4, 1979 brought a unique honor to the City of Philadelphia and inspired feelings of fellowship and good will which transcended all sectarian lines. The officials of the City of Philadelphia are to be commended for the beautiful setting which they created for this historic event, and for the skillful planning and management which permitted the vast crowd to assemble in safety and comfort.

The issue before this Court, however, involves only one narrowly defined aspect of the Pope’s visit to Philadelphia. Plaintiffs have clearly stated from the outset that they do not challenge the celebration of a Roman Catholic Mass on public property; nor do they contest expenditures for security and crowd control required for the visit of any public figure of the Pope’s stature. The issue presented to this Court is whether or not the Constitution of the United States permits the expenditure of public funds by the City for the construction and preparation of the platform which served as a base for the altar used by the Pope and the clergy in the celebration of the Mass before approximately one million people assembled at Logan Circle. 1 This is not a “religious” issue but an issue of Constitutional law.

This issue was initially presented to the Court as a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. At a meeting in chambers attended by counsel for all the parties on September 19, 1979, the City represented that the platform was at that time 75% completed and that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had agreed with the City that, in the event the final *1163 judgment was for the plaintiffs, the Archdiocese would reimburse the City for all costs incurred in the construction of the platform. It was agreed by the parties that the City should complete the construction of the platform so that there would be no disruption of the plans for the Pope’s visit on October 3 and 4, 1979. It was also agreed that the Court would enter an Order, pursuant to Rule 65(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, advancing the trial of the action on the merits and consolidating it with the hearing on the preliminary injunction motion, and that the hearing would be scheduled for October 9, 1979.

The original plaintiffs are Susan Jane B. Gilfillan and the Reverend Mary Anne Forehand, both taxpayers of the City of Philadelphia. Their standing as taxpayers under the First Amendment religion clauses is well established. Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 88 S.Ct. 1942, 20 L.Ed.2d 947 (1968). The Court granted defendants’ unopposed motion to join the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Ministries, American Baptist Churches in the United States of America as parties plaintiff. On the day of trial, Reverend Walter Weider, Reverend Bryan Kopke, Bertha R. Smith, Herbert S. Herrman, Gerard H. Bye, Antoinette Montanaro, Elizabeth M. Calter, Martha Walker Miln, Paul H. Fox and Janice Schulte sought to intervene as parties plaintiff pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a). These applicants for intervention raise claims identical to those of the original plaintiffs, but, in addition, they raise claims involving equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment and the City’s alleged expenditures for the Mass celebrated by the Pope at the Civic Center on October 4. The Court finds that these applicants for intervention have not met the requirements for intervention of right pursuant to Rule 24(a), in that the original plaintiffs adequately represent applicants’ interests as to the claim concerning the constitutionality of the expenditure of public funds for the platform. The evidence presented to the Court concerns only the platform expenditures. No evidence was presented on the equal protection issue nor on the issue of the City’s alleged expenditures in connection with the Mass at the Civic Center on October 4. Therefore, the disposition of the issues raised by the original plaintiffs will not impair or impede the ability of these applicants to present their equal protection claims and their claims concerning the Mass at the Civic Center in a separate action. The Court will, however, grant applicants permission to intervene pursuant to Rule 24(b) as to those claims raised by the original plaintiffs, since these applicants for intervention are taxpayers of the City of Philadelphia and their claims concerning the platform are identical to the claims raised by the original plaintiffs.

Evidence was presented and the Court heard oral argument on October 9, 1979. For the reasons hereinafter set forth, the Court will enter a judgment for plaintiffs declaring to be unconstitutional under the First Amendment “establishment” clause the expenditure of taxpayer’s funds for labor and materials employed in constructing, decorating, and dismantling the Logan Circle platform, and for such associated costs as carpeting, seating, sound amplification, trees, shrubbery and flowers. The City will be ordered to obtain reimbursement of such costs from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia pursuant to its agreement with the Archdiocese.

The facts of this case are largely uncontested. The parties have stipulated that on October 3, 1979 the Pope, assisted by approximately forty bishops, celebrated Mass on a platform constructed by the City of Philadelphia at Logan Circle. During the course of the Mass, Communion, a sacrament of the Roman Catholic Church, was distributed to approximately 250,000 persons. The platform upon which was placed an altar and a large cross was designed by staff architects employed by the City in the Department of Public Property. The platform completely covered the Swann Fountain in Logan Circle. 2 Its base was cylindri *1164 cal in shape, 28V2 feet high and 144 feet in diameter. On the northwest axis of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the City constructed 57 steps, 60 feet wide and extending 110 feet northwest from the platform to the street level. A red carpet, owned by the City, was extended along the length of the staircase. In the center of the platform the City built a 16 step four-sided pyramidal structure, 45 feet on a side and 14 feet high. Atop this pyramid was a smaller, five-step pyramid upon which was placed the chair in which the Pope sat. The top of the pyramid was carpeted. The City painted the platform white, and surrounded it with flowers and shrubs. The City also furnished 20,000 chairs and constructed an enclosure for them. The Papal Mass was amplified by a City-owned public address system consisting of 115 loudspeakers and installed at taxpayer’s expense by City workers along the Parkway. A 36 foot high Christian cross was erected on the platform; it was in place and lighted at night for six nights prior to the ceremony. The platform was used only for the open-air Mass. It remained in place for a week so that visitors could view it and was then dismantled.

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Related

Gilfillan v. City of Philadelphia
637 F.2d 924 (Third Circuit, 1980)

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Bluebook (online)
480 F. Supp. 1161, 28 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 526, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8638, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gilfillan-v-city-of-philadelphia-paed-1979.