Free Republic

MARTIN'S COVE SUIT Charging the federal government has allowed the LDS Church to create a "state-sponsored sectarian religious enclave" on public land in southwestern Wyoming, the American Civil Liberties Union brought suit Wednesday to revoke a lease giving the church control over a historic pioneer handcart disaster site. The ACLU, Western Land Exchange Project and four Wyoming residents are suing Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke to overturn a lease of 933 acres of federally owned land known as Martin's Cove to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for rent of $16,000...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union is suing to block the federal government from leasing to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a site where more than 100 Mormons died in 1856. The ACLU claims the government converted Martin's Cove into a religious site and gave the church authority to place unconstitutional restrictions on visitors. "It's a violation of the First Amendment, and specifically it entangles church and state because the government has entered into a partnership with the LDS church," said Mark Lopez, an ACLU attorney in New York. The 25-year lease, signed with...