A federal judge handed the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) its first defeat of the year when it upheld the constitutionality of a Ten Commandments display at the Mercer County Courthouse. U.S. District Judge Karl Forester ruled on January 22, that Mercer County’s Ten Commandments display "clearly has a legitimate secular purpose of...acknowledging the historical influence of the Commandments on the development of this country's laws."

Mat Staver, an attorney with Liberty Counsel and co-counsel for Mercer County, hailed the decision as a great victory. "This ruling stopped the ACLU in its tracks," Staver said. "The ACLU was threatening to sue 27 other Kentucky counties that have the Ten Commandments posted in public buildings."

In 2001, Mercer County officials erected a display inside the courthouse entitled "Foundations of American Law and Government." The Ten Commandments were posted along with the Magna Charta, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Star Spangled Banner, the National Motto, the Preamble to the Kentucky Constitution, the Bill of Rights and a picture of Lady Justice. Six other Kentucky counties (McCreary, Pulaski, Harlan, Garrard, Rowan and Grayson) are still in court over similar displays.

ACLU attorney David Friedman responded to Forester’s ruling by saying, "it's clear that he disagrees with us on the law. We're certainly disappointed that he felt compelled to issue the ruling now." Friedman was hoping that the ruling would be stayed until the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on other Ten Commandments cases.

Staver said he is glad the court will allow the Ten Commandments to be displayed, even though other cases are still pending. "[This] decision begins to turn the tide against the ACLU, which has been on a search-and-destroy mission to remove all vestiges of our religious history from public view," he said. "Whether the ACLU likes it or not, history is crystal-clear that each one of the Ten Commandments has played an important role in the founding of our system of law and government."

Frank Manion, American Center for Law and Justice attorney and co-counsel with Staver, applauded not only the decision, but Mercer County’s tact in posting the display. "It is a blueprint for how government can legally display the Ten Commandments," Manion said. "If more counties would follow the lead of what Mercer County did here with this display, few judges could justify striking them down."

Forester’s decision was in stark contrast to a ruling handed down last year by Judge Jennifer Coffman who ordered displays taken down in McCreary, Pulaski and Harlan counties. Coffman said in her first ruling, that "the display does not appear to have been intended to educate ... [c]ounty residents, in a balanced or accurate manner, about the traditions and texts that were drawn upon by this nation's founders or about the complex role religion has played in this country's history,"

Staver, who argued on behalf of McCreary, Pulaski and Harlan counties before the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals last December, is hopeful that another positive ruling is forthcoming. However, it may take another six months to a year because six vacancies on a court that seats 16 judges have slowed the judicial process.

"As long as a governmental entity displays the Ten Commandments together with other historical documents and does so for an educational or historical purpose, such displays will be constitutional," Staver said.