Luzerne County commissioners don’t want another holiday season controversy over the Nativity scene and menorah on the courthouse lawn, so they plan to pass a resolution making it clear that they plan to set up a “seasonal holiday display” this year.

Commissioners had removed the Nativity and menorah from the lawn last December after a litigation threat from the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The organizations argued the display violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

After public uproar, including protesters carrying nativity statues at the site where the display was removed, county officials came up with a more diverse seasonal display.

The revamped version included Santa and Mrs. Claus, two reindeer, some candy canes, a little elf handling mail for Santa, a Christmas tree and signs that say “Happy Holidays” and “Happy Kwanzaa.”

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to uphold a policy that allows unattended displays, including religious ones, to be placed on the public grounds of the county courthouse in downtown Leesburg — effectively ending the first battle in the War on Christmas 2010. In an 8 to 1 vote the board put an end to a heated debate that began in November 2009, when a resident-led commission decided that the county should ban unattended displays outside the courthouse. That decision, prompted by a rising number of requests to use the space, drew the ire of residents when the commission denied a rotary group’s application to place a Christmas tree on court grounds.

Residents speaking in favor of allowing religious displays on the grounds have dominated previous public hearings. They did so again at a public input session Tuesday at which the board was urged to maintain the current policy by Leesburg Mayor Kristen C. Umstattd, Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), local clergy members and scores of residents wearing blue pins that read “Merry Christmas — God with us.”

The appeals of those who addressed the board ranged from impassioned pleas to respect the Constitution to angry claims of religious persecution.

“Christianity is under attack,” Leesburg resident Barbara Bayles-Roberts said. As for those who don’t believe in God, she added, “there is a holiday for them, and it’s called April Fools’ Day.”

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) also weighed in on the matter in an opinion dated Aug. 20, saying that local governments should not be compelled to ban holiday displays that include religious symbols. The opinion was a response to a request from Marshall, who asked whether Loudoun is required to prohibit holiday displays on public property.

Miller, who cast the lone opposing vote, expressed concern that the right to due process was being overshadowed by the right to religious freedom, adding that jurors or defendants might be intimidated by displays outside the building. People do not come to the courthouse to see religious displays, Miller said: “They come to the courthouse to see justice done.”

But the remaining supervisors were ultimately united in their desire to maintain the current policy in the hope that the use of the property will reflect a spirit of inclusion and tolerance.

“People who preach the First Amendment need to abide by the First Amendment,” said Supervisor James Burton (I-Blue Ridge), who added that he would be willing to revisit the matter next year if an incident such as the one that occurred last year — when an unpopular display was stolen — is repeated this holiday season.

Supervisor Andrea McGimsey (D-Potomac) said she thinks the courthouse grounds should be “a vibrant place” where the community can express itself.

“I hope we can put this issue to rest, finally,” she said.

Don’t hold your breath.

A federal appeals court has ruled that two Plano elementary school principals can be held personally liable in a lawsuit over a student’s distribution of religious Christmas candy canes.

Principals Lynn Swanson and Jackie Bomchill wanted to be dismissed from the suit, claiming qualified immunity, but a lower court denied their request. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans affirmed that ruling on Thursday.

The principal’s attorney, Tom Brandt, says his clients will appeal. He says the principals didn’t practice religious-viewpoint discrimination against any students as is alleged.

Four families with students in Plano schools sued, alleging their children had been banned from handing out pencils saying “Jesus is the reason for the season,” candy canes with cards describing their Christian origin, and other religious materials.

The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear an appeal from some Texas parents who wanted to stop their school district from regulating when students can pass out religious-themed material to classmates.

The court refused to hear an appeal from some parents from the Plano Independent School District.

The district in 2005 told elementary students that religious-themed material could only be passed out before and after school, at recess, at three school parties or at designated tables. Middle and secondary students could add in lunchtime or between classes.

Parents say the policy dilutes the free speech rights of their children.

The candy cane saga started at a school party in December 2004. A 9-year-old boy brought candies that had a religious message that read, in part, “The blood Christ shed for the sins of the world.”

Thomas Elementary School administrators stopped the boy from distributing the candy canes. A year later, the boy’s family and several more whose children also were stopped from distributing religious materials sued the school district.

Several months later, the district revised the more restrictive policy regarding the distribution of materials that was in place at the time. The revised policy permits students to circulate materials only before and after school, at three annual parties, during recess and at designated tables in school. Middle and high school students also can hand out items in hallways and during lunch.

A federal judge in Wisconsin has declared that the 50-year standing tradition of a National Day of Prayer violates the “establishment clause” of the First Amendment which creates a separation of church and state.

“I understand that many may disagree with that conclusion and some may even view it as a criticism of prayer or those who pray,” Crabb said in her opinion. “That is unfortunate. A determination that the government may not endorse a religious message is not a determination that the message itself is harmful, unimportant or undeserving of dissemination.”

The opinion comes in a case filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based group of self-described “atheists” and “agnostics.”

You can bet that this will be appealed to the Supreme Court and, if it loses, the Freedom From Religion Foundation will then sue to ban Christmas as a Federal holiday.