From Magistrate Judge Autumn Spaeth (C.D. Cal.) Nov. 26 in Ngo v. City of Westminster (appeal pending); Westminster is a majority-Asian suburb of L.A. (in Orange County):
The following SAC [Second Amended Complaint] allegations are substantively identical to the allegations asserted in the FAC. A bagua mirror was displayed on a wall outside the Mayor's Office front entrance, a location that was part of city hall. The bagua mirror is an ancient Chinese religious symbol related to the beliefs of Taoism and Feng Shui. Plaintiff is a devout Catholic who was offended by the display of the bagua mirror (the "Bagua Mirror").
On September 25, 2024, Plaintiff [who was at the time running for City Council] held a press conference at the Westminster City Hall, with the intent to bring attention to the Bagua Mirror. During the press conference, Plaintiff removed the Bagua Mirror from the wall. Westminster police officers arrested Plaintiff. Following the press conference, the Mayor publicly criticized Plaintiff and claimed Plaintiff was not fit to be a member of the Westminster City Council due to Plaintiff's status as a criminal defendant….
The Supreme Court has ruled that government conduct which the framers of the First Amendment would have understood to establish a religion violates the Establishment Clause. Kennedy v. Bremerton Sch. Dist. (2022). Coercion, such as making a religious observance compulsory, forcing anyone to attend church, or forcing anyone to engage in formal religious exercise, are "hallmarks of religious establishments the framers sought to prohibit when they adopted the First Amendment." By contrast, government conduct which in the history and understanding of the Establishment Clause was not considered impermissible coercion, does not violate the Establishment Clause. The "Establishment Clause must be interpreted by reference to historical practices and understandings." The Establishment Clause does not "compel the government to purge from the public sphere anything an objective observer could reasonably infer endorses or partakes of the religious."
