The Satanic Temple has sued the state of Iowa, claiming officials violated the group’s civil rights when they repeatedly denied the religious organization permission to host holiday events at the Iowa Capitol rotunda.
The ACLU of Iowa filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern Division of Iowa on Thursday. It claims the Iowa Department of Administrative Services violated the group’s constitutional rights to freedom of speech and religion and nondiscrimination when it denied the group's request to hold holiday events alongside other religious groups in 2024 and 2025.
The group is seeking to block officials from denying future requests and is seeking an undetermined amount in damages.
"It is a foundational principle that the government should not favor one religious belief over another or discriminate against its citizens based on their religious beliefs," said Rita Bettis Austen, legal director of the ACLU of Iowa. "So that means when the state makes the public space in the Capitol rotunda available for these religious holiday events — for example, a Christmas event or a Hanukkah event — it cannot then deny that same right to other religious groups that it disfavors."
The lawsuit names as defendants the Department of Administrative Services, current director Mark Campbell, and former director Adam Steen, who unsuccessfully ran as a Republican candidate for governor this year.
The Iowa Department of Administrative Services did not respond to IPR's requests for comment.
The lawsuit follows three complaints to the Iowa Office of Civil Rights, Bettis Austen said. The department determined there was "probable cause that discrimination on the basis of religion had occurred" following one complaint, she said. The other two complaints were still pending when the lawsuit was filed.
"We are now certainly at the point where the state has had ample — and then some — opportunity to change course," she said. "We are, of course, prepared and willing to take this next step to protect these core and fundamental constitutional rights."
The Satanic Temple was founded in 2013 and doesn't believe in Satan or the supernatural. Instead, the group says it sees Satan as "a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority, forever defending personal sovereignty even in the face of insurmountable odds," according to its website.
The group put up a holiday display with statue of the pagan idol Baphomet, candles and a Satanic Temple logo in 2023. A Mississippi man vandalized the display and was initially charged with a hate crime before prosecutors dropped that charge in a plea deal.
Steen praised the state's decision to deny the group's request a second time during a press conference in November 2025, saying the move "will protect our children."
Matt Kezhaya, the general counsel for the Satanic Temple, said Wednesday that the state denied their application based on potential danger to children, which was unfounded.
"The state said that we were going to beat children with sticks because we were going to have a costume contest which involved people holding sticks," he said.
A core tenet of the Satanic Temple's ideology is protecting children, he said.
"We're going to be engaged in coloring books and take-and-make-ornaments. There's going to be carols. This is a family-friendly event. No part of that would involve beating children under any circumstances,"
Kezhaya said.
