In court documents filed Tuesday with the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the American Civil Liberties Union repeated arguments it has made since the city sold the public-access easement on the plaza - that the city did it to further the church's interests instead of the public's, thus endorsing the church's viewpoint, and that the plaza remains public space even without the easement.

The ACLU also requested the opportunity to argue the case orally before the appellate judges.

The ACLU is appealing Utah U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball's May ruling, which rejected all of the group's arguments, saying the plaza is entirely private even if the church allows the public to walk through it and that the city made a "rational" decision to sell the easement.

The city received 2 acres from the church in the west-side Glendale neighborhood. The church also agreed to put $250,000 toward the $4.5 million that was raised to build a community center on the land. The Unity Center is supposed to be built by next year. In exchange, the plaza is considered private and the church can forbid speech it finds offensive.

But the ACLU urged the 10th Circuit to investigate the context of the easement sale.

"The church swapped an abandoned parcel of land in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods for the easement rights over a marquee parcel of land in the heart of downtown," the ACLU wrote. "At the very most, the benefits that were obtained by the city were payment for allowing the LDS Church to continue to suppress speech on the plaza."

The LDS Church, which intervened in the case and is fighting it with the city, declined to comment.

hmay@sltrib.com