The Satanic Temple Files Federal Free Speech and Religious Exercise Lawsuit

Des Moines, Iowa - Today, the ACLU of Iowa, on behalf of The Satanic Temple (TST), filed a federal lawsuit asking the court to block state officials from unconstitutionally violating TST's rights to free speech, religious exercise, and nondiscrimination.

The lawsuit arises from state officials repeatedly denying the group permission to have a family-friendly winter holiday event in the Iowa Capitol rotunda on the same basis as other religious and civic groups.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa by the ACLU of Iowa for its clients, TST and Mortimer Adramelech, Minister of Satan of the Iowa congregation of TST. The ACLU of Iowa is co-counseling the case with the Hasso & Wilson Law Firm and Kezhaya Law PLC.

The lawsuit asks the court to:

• Find that the state officials' denials violated TST's and Adramelech’s federal constitutional rights to free speech, free exercise of religion, and equal protection under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
• Find that state officials also violated TST's and Adramelech's rights at the state level to nondiscrimination and religious freedom under the Iowa Civil Rights Act and Iowa Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
• Order State Department of Administrative Services officials to cease these violations and specifically to allow The Satanic Temple to host a holiday event at the Capitol this December as the lawsuit proceeds.
• Award damages for past violations.

In December 2023, TST applied for and was permitted to hold a holiday display in the rotunda in the Iowa Capitol, alongside other holiday displays, such as a Christian nativity scene.

This display was vandalized, and while charges were brought by local law enforcement against the individual responsible, state officials celebrated the act and condemned The Satanic Temple’s presence in the Capitol.

Then, starting in 2024 and continuing through 2026, the state repeatedly denied and unduly delayed TST’s applications and follow-up communications from TST for permission to hold a winter holiday event and display with family-friendly activities, such as singing carols, coloring pages, creating make-and-take ornaments, and a Krampus costume contest.

More details here.

Matt Kezhaya (pronounced Kez-EYE-ya), general counsel for TST, said:

“The Constitution protects unpopular viewpoints from political power, not the other way around. A public official's highest duty is to protect the Constitution, especially when doing so is unpopular. The then-director of the state agency in charge of granting and denying applications to hold holiday events at the Capitol, Adam Steen, has been candid that the government’s decision to deny The Satanic Temple was because of disagreement with TST’s religious viewpoint. He has made clear his own desire to exclude The Satanic Temple from a public forum, but this case is about a broader departure from the Constitution. Iowa officials continue to deny TST equal access based on stereotypes they know to be false. The First Amendment does not allow government officials to pick and choose which religions may participate in public life.”

Shefali Aurora, ACLU of Iowa staff attorney, said, “In our country and state, it is a foundational principle that the government should not favor one religious belief over another or discriminate against its citizens based on their religious beliefs. So when the state makes the public space in the Iowa Capitol Rotunda available for religious holiday events, for example, a Christmas or Hanukkah event, it cannot then deny the same right to other religious groups it disfavors. Members of the Iowa congregation of The Satanic Temple Iowa have the same right to express their beliefs as all other religious groups do.

Rita Bettis Austen, ACLU of Iowa Legal Director, said, "We have brought this case to uphold these principles of free speech and religious exercise we all hold dear and to require the state, as it must, to come back in line with the constitutional and statutory requirements of religious freedom and nondiscrimination.”

In a separate lawsuit, the ACLU of Iowa is representing the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers in an open records case related to the state's denying TST's holiday event request. Details here. That litigation is ongoing, pending in the Iowa District Court for Polk County.