Religious statues injunction upheld in Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Aug. 20 in a landmark ruling upheld a preliminary injunction blocking the installation of two 10-foot-tall religious statues outside the Quincy public safety building entrance.
The court unanimously upheld the trial court’s determination that a group of Quincy residents and taxpayers are likely to succeed in their claim that the statues depicting St. Michael the Archangel and St. Florian violate the Massachusetts Constitution’s requirement of government neutrality toward religion. The injunction will remain in place while litigation proceeds in Norfolk Superior Court. The plaintiffs are represented by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Cloherty & Steinberg LLP.
In its ruling, the court affirmed that installing the statues as the sole adornment on the municipal building “could be viewed by the public as endorsement of a particular religion, and the subordination of others,” especially because “they stand
tall and alone, adorned with Catholic iconography” and are not long-standing historic monuments. The justices affirmed on this record the trial judge’s conclusion that “the statues’ primary effect will be to advance a religious message,” even if they also serve a secular purpose as symbols of courage for first responders.
Finally, the justices ruled that the public interest weighs strongly in favor of maintaining the preliminary injunction, because if the statues were to be installed while the litigation continued,“the plaintiffs and other members of the public would have to confront them regularly, experiencing feelings of subordination given their own religious beliefs or nonbeliefs.”
“I’m thrilled with this ruling and I’m relieved that these statues will not be installed while we pursue our case against the city,” says Claire Fitzmaurice, a resident of Quincy and a plaintiff. “As a Unitarian Universalist, I cherish the principle of religious pluralism. I believe that Quincy should be a place where we welcome people from all faiths and backgrounds. To have these imposing religious statues looming over the entrance of the public safety building would fly in the face of that pluralistic ideal — especially as our city continues to grow more diverse. I look forward to our next day in court.”
“The court’s wise decision casts doubt on the profoundly un-American idea that Quincy’s city government can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on massive religious statuary and then affix it to the front of the public safety building, where it would loom above citizens using the main entrance,” says David Reich, a resident of Quincy and a plaintiff.
The plaintiffs in Fitzmaurice v. City of Quincy filed their lawsuit in May 2025 after local media revealed Mayor Thomas P. Koch’s plan to install the statues, which had been commissioned in secret nearly a year and a half earlier. The estimated cost to taxpayers is at least $850,000. None of these details had previously been disclosed either to the public or to the full Quincy City Council. Despite significant opposition from constituents — including an online petition with over 1,600 signatures and a statement from 19 local faith leaders — the mayor pressed forward with his plan. In October 2025, the Norfolk Superior Court denied the city’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit and issued a preliminary injunction blocking the planned installation.
“We are delighted by the ruling, which concludes that a government may not give special preference to religion,” FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said. “The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has wisely upheld the trial court’s preliminary injunction, affirming that sectarian religious statues cannot be imposed on the people of Quincy.”
