A federal judge ordered state officials in Iowa on Monday to permit a local Satanic Temple organization to hold a holiday event in the rotunda of the state capitol after years of denying the group’s application.
The religious organization and Iowa Republican state officials have been in a legal battle over the group’s applications to hold a holiday event at the state capitol in recent years.
Republicans in Iowa, who currently control the governorship and majorities in the state house and senate, have cited the capitol building’s policies prohibiting gratuitous violence and obscene displays as justification for denying the applications.
