Background
In 1995, Downey High School’s Baseball Booster Club raised funds with ads from local businesses. The ads were posted on the school’s baseball field fence for a $400 donation. Mr. DiLoreto, Chief Executive Officer of Yale Engineering, purchased an ad using a long message and listing the Ten Commandments. Mr. DiLoreto then revised his proposal to be less wordy. The final ad proposal read as follows:
- For Peace in Our Day!
Pause & Meditate on These Principles to Live By!
I am the Lord your God you shall have no other gods besides me.
Take not the name of God in vain.
Keep holy the Sabbath Day.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness.
Do not covet your neighbor’s wife.
Do not covet your neighbor’s goods.
To earn respect for ourselves & our community we must do noble acts for the love of God & concern for our country.
Edward and Jill Di Loreto Family Trust
Mr. Layne, the principal of Downey High School, refused to post the sign and the Booster Club refunded Mr. DiLoreto’s donation. The refusal to post the sign was based on:
- concern about running afoul of the Establishment Clause;
and disruption, controversy and expensive litigation that might arise from community members seeking to remove the sign or from religious or political statements that others might wish to post.
The Attorney General’s Office decided that refusing to post an otherwise appropriate advertisement which merely included a religious message was not legal. So, on October 3, 1996, the District discontinued the program entirely and removed around forty other signs already posted on the fence.
