Massachusetts Supreme Court Halts Quincy’s Religious Statues Honoring Police and Firefighters

In an August 20 decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld an earlier order that temporarily bars Quincy from erecting two ten-foot statues of St. Michael the Archangel and St. Florian outside its new public safety headquarters. The court ruled the religious symbols could be interpreted as state support for a single faith, conflicting with the Massachusetts Constitution’s neutrality clause. The statues, commissioned from an Italian sculptor and chosen by Mayor Thomas Koch, were intended to recognize the bravery of police and firefighters.

Plaintiffs—including the ACLU of Massachusetts, the national ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and law firm Cloherty & Steinberg—assert the monuments lack a secular purpose and primarily advance Catholic iconography. The city’s defense, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and senior counsel Joe Davis, calls the ruling “preliminary” and vows to continue fighting for the right to honor first responders.

The National and Massachusetts Fraternal Orders of Police have argued the saints hold broader symbolic value across faiths. The case now returns to the Norfolk Superior Court for further proceedings.