Ten Commandments Ordered Down by Judge 
An appeal is likely as proponents suffer setback at the hand of the ACLU 
From, The Kentucky Citizen Digest, September/October, 2001.

History’s first lawgiver never had to deal with  the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), but they’ve been hot on Moses’ trail this year in three Kentucky court houses.  On June 22 the Ten Command-ments, as part of a historical documents display, were ordered taken down from government buildings in Harlan, Pulaski, and McCreary counties by U.S. Eastern District Court Judge Jennifer Coffman after the ACLU brought suit. 
   
McCreary County’s Judge Executive Jimmie Greene has vowed to take the matter all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court if necessary.  The dis-plays ordered down by Coffman included not only the Ten Commandments, but also the Magna Carta, the  Mayflower Compact, the Bill of Rights, the Preamble to the American Constitution, the national motto, and the Star Spangled Banner.   

The decision came after Coffman requested that the parties in the case attempt to work out a compromise display that would satisfy both sides. Negotiations between the two sides broke down, however, when the ACLU demanded that a long list of other historical documents be included in the display. Greene and other county officials rejected the demand since the documents cited by the ACLU had little to do with American history—the original reason for the display.   

The role of the Ten Commandments in American history has been at the center of the case from the start.  Greene and others involved in defending the Commandment displays have said little about the Ten Commandments as religious documents, choosing to focus almost exclusively on their role in American culture, law and government.    

Matthew Staver, counsel for the Liberty Council, a religious-liberties organization, has pointed out just a few of the numerous ways the Ten Commandments have been employed in law and government.   

Staver, who represented McCreary and Pulaski Counties in the case, has pointed out that displays like the ones ordered dismantled by  Coffman represent the development of American law since its founding.   

During legal arguments over the display, Staver said that 12 of the original 13 colonies adopted the Ten Commandments in their entirety as part of constitutional or statutory law. The only exception was Rhode Island, which, while not adopting all, adopted most of them.   

Remnants of the observance of the Ten Commandments still remain in our law, argued Staver. Sunday blue laws are still in effect in many communities. These laws are related to the observance of the Sabbath according to the 4th Command-ment. Not only that, but they have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. In fact, Stavers said, to this day the president of the United States is prohibited in the Constitution from signing bills into law on Sunday.   

Staver criticized Coffman’s ruling for completely ignoring a recent decision by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals which found Ohio’s state motto (“With God All Things Are Possible”) to be constitutional.  Nine of the court’s 13 justices concurred in the decision. “This Federal Appeals Court governs the state of Kentucky,” Stavers said, “yet Judge Coffman’s ruling didn’t even mention the decision.”   

The 6th Circuit is also the court the Ten Commandments case is headed toward should any of the counties involved choose to appeal, and at least one has already said it will.   

Staver and other defenders of the displays contend that they include numerous historical documents do not violate the Constitution’s esta-blishment clause because their purpose is not to establish a religion, but to acknowledge the role of religion in American history—two entirely different things.   

The courts appear to be torn as to what exactly constitutes an esta-blishment of religion. While the Appeals Court in Ohio has rendered a decision allowing what detractors say is a blatantly religious motto, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Indiana ruled recently that a monument for the Ten Commandments had to be taken down.    

The U. S. Supreme Court voted 6 to 3 not to hear the Indiana case.  Only 4 votes were needed to hear the case—a sign that the fight will likely continue for some years to come.  
 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander , Executive Director Martin Cothran , Senior Associate Policy Analyst