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Daniels said the city's argument was that the park is meant to be about the historical events surrounding the city and its founding. "A lot of people have looked at this as either free speech or establishment, but in our minds it's historical," he said.

The Summum, a Latin term meaning the sum total of all creation, wants to erect its "Seven Aphorisms of Summum" monument in the city's Pioneer Park. The group, formed in 1975, says the Seven Aphorisms were given to Moses on Mount Sinai along with the Ten Commandments. Moses destroyed the tablet containing the aphorisms because he saw the people weren't ready for them, the Summum say.

The Ten Commandments marker, erected by the Fraternal Order of Eagles, is one of 15 permanent displays in the park.

Alito said that even long-winded speakers eventually conclude their remarks and people distributing leaflets at some point grow tired and go home, but monuments endure.

In addition, Alito said, private parties do not own the monuments that governments accept for display; the governments become the owners.

He acknowledged that government ownership of monuments cannot be "used (as) a subterfuge for favoring certain private speakers over others based on viewpoint."

But he said monuments often convey multiple messages, and cited the Greco-Roman mosaic of the word "imagine" that was donated to New York's Central Park in memory of the Beatles' John Lennon.

Some people may "imagine" the music Lennon would have written if he had not been shot to death near the park, he said. Others may think about the words of Lennon's song of the same name that imagine "a world without religion, countries, possessions, greed or hunger," Alito said in an opinion that also included the song's lyrics.

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