The United States Supreme Court will take up the politically charged question of the constitutionality of Ten Commandments displays, agreeing to review cases in Kentucky and Texas.
As WorldNetDaily reported, numerous cases are pending across the nation on an issue the high court has not addressed since 1980.
“The decision to review a case involving the display of the Ten Commandments is long overdue,” said Mat Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, the civil-liberties defense organization representing three counties in the action. “The lower courts are hopelessly in confusion over the constitutionality of governmental displays of the Ten Commandments.”
Last week, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Roy Moore, the Alabama chief justice who was ousted last November for refusing a court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse.
Staver said the decalogue belongs in a “display of historical documents important to the foundation of our country. American history simply would be incomplete without reference or acknowledgement of the significant role religion, including the Ten Commandments, has played in our founding, history, and legal jurisprudence.”
The American Center for Law and Justice, which hailed the court’s agreement to review the issue, is involved in nearly 20 Ten Commandments cases throughout the country.
In Texas, a homeless man, Thomas Van Orden, challenged a Ten Commandments monument on the state Capitol grounds as an unconstitutional attempt to establish state-sponsored religion.
The statue was donated to the state in 1961 by the Fraternal Order of Eagles, a group that contributed many displays in the 1950s and 1960s that now are the center of numerous court battles.
In Kentucky last December, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower-court ruling that said three counties could not display the Ten Commandments in public buildings, even when the Decalogue is accompanied by other historical documents.
A leading critic, Rev. Barry W. Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said he wants to see the high court declare such displays unconstitutional.
“It’s clear that the Ten Commandments is a religious document,” Lynn said. “Its display is appropriate in houses of worship but not at the seat of government.”
The Kentucky case involves two courthouses in Pulaski and McCreary counties – which displayed the Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights and other historical documents – and Harlan County, where the school board created a similar display. The Harlan exhibit includes a limited public forum where the community can post additional historical documents.
The displays began with the Ten Commandments alone. They later were changed to include some historical documents with excerpted religious quotes. The displays then were altered to include other historical documents in their entirety.
Because the displays originated with only the religious document, however, Judges Eric Clay and Julia Smith Gibbons agreed they were unconstitutional. They contend the original religious purpose was not altered by later adding historical documents.
Senior Judge James Ryan dissented, Liberty Counsel said, stating court precedent established that displays could be altered to include a broader education purpose even if the original purpose was solely religious. He also argued the displays were constitutional, and he criticized the court for not taking seriously the school exhibit, which allows the community to post any historical document.
Currently, four federal circuit courts and one state Supreme Court hold that displays of Ten Commandments are constitutional, while three federal circuit courts have ruled them unconstitutional.
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