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Ten Commandments
Display Upheld
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January 14, 2010
Ten Commandments
Display Upheldl
By Brett Barrouquere
The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE - A
Kentucky county can restore a display that
included the Ten Commandments along with other
historical documents after a split federal
appeals court ruled Thursday that there's no
evidence the county intended to mount a
religious display on public grounds.
The
6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, by a 2-1
vote, vacated an injunction barring Grayson
County from using the commandments as part of a
"Foundations of American Law and Government"
display that included the full text of the
Mayflower Compact, the full Declaration of
Independence and other historical documents with
an explanation of their significance.
U.S. District Judge Joseph McKinley barred the
display in 2008, saying its primary intent was
religious. Two citizens and the American Civil
Liberties Union sued over the display.
Appellate Judge David W. McKeague wrote that
minutes of the Grayson County Fiscal Court show
county officials were interested mainly in
having the historical display at the courthouse.
"While there is no doubt that the Fiscal
Court members could have been more explicit
about their educational goals, we nonetheless
find that, taken as a whole, the Foundations
Display endorses an educational message rather
than a religious one," McKeague wrote in an
opinion joined by U.S. District Judge Karl
Forester of Lexington, who heard the case after
being designated by the appeals court to assist
in the case.
Appellate Judge Karen Nelson
Moore dissented, saying the minutes of various
Fiscal Court meetings make the intent of the
display clear. Moore noted that county officials
didn't discuss the historical significance of
the commandments or other documents in the
display until after being sued.
"The
County's asserted purpose here - that the
Display was posted for educational or historical
reasons - is a sham and should be rejected,"
Moore wrote. "The predominant purpose at the
time the Fiscal Court voted to approve the
Display was a religious one."
ACLU
attorney Bill Sharp said he's considering
several legal options, including asking for a
rehearing before the full appeals court or
having the U.S. Supreme Court look at the case.
"We're certainly disappointed in the
decision," Sharp said. "We're weighing those
options and looking at the substantive and
procedural aspects of the decision."
Mat
Staver, an attorney for the Orlando, Fla.-based
Liberty Counsel, which defended the display,
said the Ten Commandments belong in the display
and should be allowed in the courthouse.
"The Ten Commandments are part of the fabric of
our country and helped shape the law," Staver
said. "It defies common sense to remove a
recognized symbol of law from a court of law."
The case was filed in 2001, but put on hold
while other legal disputes involving public
displays of the Ten Commandments were heard in
court.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2005
ruled that displays inside the McCreary and
Pulaski county courthouses were unconstitutional
while the U.S. 6th District Court of Appeals
said a Mercer County Courthouse display that
incorporated other historical documents was
constitutional.
Since then, Ten
Commandments displays and monuments in Alabama,
Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Ohio,
Tennessee and West Virginia have been challenged
and taken down.
Another case involving
the Ten Commandments, out of a dispute in
McCreary County, was argued before the appeals
court in October. No decision had been rendered
in that case as of Thursday. |
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Verse of the day:
John 14:1 (KJV) Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.
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