Press Release: 5/7/2026

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Hears Arguments on Religious Statues Planned for Quincy Government Building

 

Superior Court ruled 10-foot statues of Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Florian likely violate state constitution’s religious neutrality requirement.

May 6, 2026 11:00 am

 

Media Contact

Mark Sheridan, media@aclum.org

BOSTON – More than a dozen Quincy residents with diverse religious beliefs asked the state’s highest court today to uphold a ruling that blocked the Quincy mayor’s plan to install two large religious statues at the entrance of the city’s new public safety building. The plaintiffs argue that installing the ten-foot-tall statues — which depict the Catholic iconography of Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Florian — as the sole adornments on the building’s facade would undermine religious pluralism in Quincy and violate the Massachusetts Constitution’s longstanding requirement that the government remain neutral in matters of religion.

Today’s hearing follows an October 2025 ruling by a Norfolk Superior Court judge, which held that the City’s planned religious display would likely violate Article 3 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights and temporarily enjoined the city from proceeding with the installation. The City appealed that ruling to the Supreme Judicial Court.

"I am here as an American, and as a Christian," said Conevery Bolton Valencius, a resident of Quincy for more than 20 years and plaintiff in the case. "My faith is at the center of my life. If the government lifts up one religion over others, then no one’s faith is safe. All of us deserve the freedom to follow where our faith leads — or to have no faith at all. Installing statues of saints at the entrance to a prominent government building signals a preference that threatens my religious liberty. I want statues like these at my church, not looming over the doors of our new public safety building.”

“I am deeply troubled by the City’s plans to install two large Catholic icons on a government building," said Claire Fitzmaurice, a resident of Quincy and a plaintiff. "To me, these statues are clearly religious. The winged figure of St. Michael the Archangel is even depicted stomping on the head of a demon! As an active member of my Unitarian Universalist church, one of my central religious principles is religious pluralism. These 10-foot-tall statues at the entrance to our public safety building violate that principle by literally elevating one faith above all others. This sends a clear signal that those who hold different religious beliefs are second-class citizens in Quincy. No city should send that message — especially when providing essential services.”

Article 3 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights guarantees that “all religious sects and denominations ... shall be equally under the protection of the law; and no subordination of any one sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law.” The Supreme Judicial Court’s 1979 ruling in Colo v. Treasurer and Receiver General set forth a careful balancing test to analyze government actions challenged under Article 3. Plaintiffs in this case argue that the planned installation fails this test, and the Superior Court agreed that they were likely to succeed in this argument.

“The Massachusetts Declaration of Rights demands that our government remain neutral in matters of religion,” said Jessie Rossman, legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts. “This neutrality is precisely what allows the richly varied beliefs of our clients and others — including deeply held Christian beliefs — to flourish in cities like Quincy and across the Commonwealth. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court established the legal test to analyze Art. 3 claims nearly 50 years ago, and for good reason, that test remains good law. Under that test, installing these statues as the sole adornment on a government building, especially one intended to provide essential services to all residents, violates our state constitution.”

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, the Norfolk Superior Court denied the City’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit and issued a preliminary injunction blocking the planned installation. Rejecting arguments that the Saint Michael and Saint Florian statues are secular, the court held that "the depiction of the statues, their association with one religion, and the various reactions of community members, City Council members, and faith leaders demonstrate Plaintiffs will likely be able to show that the statues convey to the public observing them the implicit government support for the religious doctrine and adherents of Catholic / Christian faith, and as a result, the subordination of other religions."

The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and Cloherty & Steinberg LLP.

Find more information about Fitzmaurice et al. v. City of Quincy here.