Supreme Court to decide on civic Yule trimmings

The ''Christmas look'' on public property will be clearly tailored by the US Supreme Court later this year, Monitor legal correspondent Curtis J. Sitomer reports.

The justices agreed to review a lower court ban on the display of a Christmas season nativity scene in Pawtucket, R.I. City fathers defend the nativity scene as a neutral historic symbol of Christmas, but the American Civil Liberties Union had successfully argued that the display violates the Constitution's prohibition of government-established religion. The high court's decision will undoubtedly affect displays in other cities, but the longstanding First Amendment dispute over the public display of Christmas artifacts is likely to go on.