A picture of Jesus will be allowed to continue hanging in the Slidell courthouse as a result of some quick thinking by the Slidell City Court.

The court changed the display to include 15 other people who were important to legal history. There is also a reproduction of the U.S. Constitution and a notice posted to explain the significance of the each of the 16 figures.

U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle said that he would have ruled that the lone picture of Jesus constituted a religious display and that one legal question remains—whether the city must pay the ACLU’s legal fees. The judge said that could be the case because the group’s lawsuit was what prompted the change to the display. He scheduled a hearing on that question for October 18.

Both sides are claiming victory in this lawsuit since the image of Jesus remains, but by adding the extra paintings the city court made the religious seem secular. According to the Alliance Defense Fund:

The court today recognized that the First Amendment allows public officials, and not the ACLU, to determine what is appropriate for acknowledging our nation’s legal and cultural heritage.

The ACLU quoted Judge Ivan Lemelle:

As much as we might like the image—I might make a copy and frame it in my house . . . I’m not going to display it in my courtroom.

So who really wins in this case? The separation of church and state was better respected by the new display, but will this inspire more religious works to go on display with disingenuous notes explaining their significance to the legal field? I fear the right has found a loophole in this case. The question remains how big that loophole is, but I don’t rest easy with this decision.