A legal fight is raging over statues of Catholic saints that were supposed to be placed outside the public safety headquarters in Quincy, Massachusetts, and the battle may end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The issue surrounds statues of St. Michael the Archangel and St. Florian as attorneys on both sides of the fight are waiting for a decision from the Massachusetts Supreme Court, Fox News reported Sunday.
The city’s mayor chose the statues, which were made by a sculptor in Italy, and had planned to install them outside the new building, the outlet said.
The statues are of the patron saints of police officers and firefighters, the National Catholic Register reported in April, noting that if the case reaches the U.S. Supreme Court it “may help determine whether religious art has a continuing place in the public square”:
Quincy’s $175-million, 122,000-square-foot, four-story public safety building became fully operational in mid-March 2026, but without the two 10-foot bronze statues that Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch quietly added to the plans sometime after the city council approved the project a few years ago, at a projected cost of about $850,000. The statues are supposed to go about halfway up one side of the exterior of the structure, according to an artist’s rendering in a court filing.
In May 2025, after the news of the statues leaked to a local newspaper, 17 residents of the city sued in state superior court, claiming the presence of the statues would violate the Massachusetts Constitution, which guarantees equal protection of religions but also bans “subordination of any one sect or denomination to another.”
The plaintiffs in the case are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts, its national group, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and Cloherty & Steinberg LLP, according to the Fox article.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is representing the city and its senior counsel and lead attorney for Quincy, Joseph Davis, told Fox, “The ACLU’s position is anti-art and anti-history and we’re confident the justices will reject it.”
“We don’t hide away beautiful civic art just because it might make someone think of religion, and nothing in Massachusetts law says otherwise. Quincy has every right to honor its first responders with symbols that have inspired courage and sacrifice for generations,” he continued.
In his piece for the Catholic World Report, Charles J. Russo wrote in May, “The statue of Florian, a fourth-century Roman soldier and Christian martyr who pioneered firefighting brigades, depicts him pouring water on a burning building. The Archangel Michael statue, who is associated with defense against evil, displays angel wings while holding a shield as he vanquishes a demon.”
“Both figures are identified worldwide with firefighters and police, reflecting their depictions in Western art for centuries,” he added.
Breitbart News has extensively covered the ACLU’s history of targeting the Ten Commandments, lawful federal immigration enforcement, and more.
Breitbart News reported in June 2023 that the left-wing billionaire George Soros-funded ACLU was criticized for a social media post sympathizing with a man who was a rapist and murderer:
A biological man convicted of raping and murdering a woman and child underwent “enormous suffering” after being denied state-provided transgender surgery prior to being executed, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is facing intense backlash for a tweet sympathizing with the killer that made no mention of his past crimes.
Following the execution of Duane Owen, one of the longest-held inmates on Florida’s death row, the ACLU published a post lamenting the anguish of the man who killed and raped a mother of two as well as a 14-year-old girl.
Despite the ACLU of Massachusetts’ claim that the purpose of the statues was to “advance religion,” a brief for the National Fraternal Order of Police and Massachusetts Fraternal Order of Police said different faiths revere St. Michael, according to the Fox article.
“First responders of all stripes, religious creeds, and political affiliations — and not just Catholics or Christians — cherish both saints for their symbolic importance to the profession,” the brief said.
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