Tuesday, December 28, 1999

Clinton lauds judge's poetry

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Dlott legal ruling prompted letter

BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        President Bill Clinton has joined others in recognizing U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott's talents as a poet.

        The chief hailed the Cincinnati judge in a “Dear Susan” letter over the holiday.

        In it, he praised her decision in a suit challenging Christmas as a federal holiday and the poem that intro duced her ruling.

        “Stan sent me your opinion in the Christmas case,” Mr. Clinton wrote. “I love the poem and the opinion itself is almost as good! I'm proud that I appointed you.

        “Best, Bill Clinton.”

        Thorough as her rejection of Richard Ganulin's suit was, her poem has drawn even more attention.

        It even came up at a recent White House dinner when Judge Dlott and her husband, lawyer Stanley M. Chesley, joined the president. Mr. Chesley has held Clinton fund-raisers at his Amberley Village home. Mr. Chesley responded to the president's query with a copy of the decision, and the note followed.

        Mr. Ganulin, a Hyde Park resident, did not seek to end Christmas or its celebration on Dec. 25. Rather, he sought to end it as a federal, national public holiday because, in part, it favors and advances Christianity over all other beliefs.

        That, he said, violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

        In her poem, Judge Dlott said, in part,

        The court will uphold seemingly contradictory causes Decreeing “The Establishment” and “Santa” Both worthwhile Claus(es). Drawing on other precedents, Judge Dlott concluded that Congress is “merely acknowledging the secular cultural aspects of Christmas by declaring Christmas to be a legal public holiday. ... A government practice need not be exclusively secular to survive.”

        Monday, Mr. Ganulin said he planned to file a notice of appeal.

       

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