Split rulings on Ten Commandments displays

Earlier oral arguments
The justices heard oral arguments in the Kentucky and Texas cases last March.

The Bush administration, via acting Solicitor General Paul Clement, argued against a strict First Amendment wall between church and state.

Ten Commandments displays should be allowed on government property because they pay tribute to America’s religious and legal history, he argued in court. “The idea of having a fence around the Ten Commandments to make clear the state has nothing to do with it, I think that is bending it too far,” said Clement.

David Friedman, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who challenged the courthouse displays, countered: “An assertion that the Ten Commandments is THE source, THE foundation of our legal system ... that is simply wrapping the Ten Commandments in the flag, and that’s endorsement.”

In their comments and questions from the bench, justices were reluctant to adopt a blanket ban on such displays. They struggled to formulate a clear constitutional rule that could determine the fate of thousands of religious symbols on public property around the country, including one in their own courtroom featuring Moses holding the sacred tablets.

Scalia noted that legislative proclamations and prayer invoking God’s name are permissible. “I don’t see why the one is good and the other is bad,” he said.

Texas case background
During oral arguments in the Texas case, Erwin Chemerinsky, a lawyer representing a man who sought the removal of the tablet, told the justices the display is a “religious symbol.” The prominence of the display on the capitol grounds and the fact that so many of the commandments deal with God “does promote religion,” he maintained.

Supreme Court rulings On the final day of its 2004-2005 session, the Supreme Court: Issued split rulings on whether courthouses could display the Ten Commandments. Sent a file-sharing case back to lower court after ruling that the services could be sued for their users' illegal activity. Overturned a lower court ruling that would have required cable Internet firms to open their lines to rival Internet providers. Refused to hear appeals from two journalists who have refused to testify about the leak of an undercover CIA agent's identity. Ruled that an appeals court abused its discretion by reopening the case of a Tennessee death row inmate. Ruled that police cannot be sued for how they enforce restraining orders. Agreed to clarify when evidence collected during improper police searches can be used against a suspect. Said it would consider whether federal employees can sue in federal court for alleged constitutional violations.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, in his court filing, wrote that “countless monuments, medallions, plaques, sculptures, seals, frescoes, and friezes — including, of course, the Supreme Court’s own courtroom frieze — commemorate the Decalogue (Ten Commandments). Nothing in the Constitution requires these historic artifacts to be chiseled away or erased.”

Chemerinsky countered that “the government’s symbolic endorsement of religion is most obvious from the content of the monument itself. In large letters, the monument proclaims ’I AM the LORD thy God.”’

Ten Commandments monuments are common in town squares, courthouses and other government-owned land around the country.

At issue was whether they violate the First Amendment ban on any law “respecting an establishment of religion,” or simply represent a secular tribute to America’s legal heritage.

The question has sparked dozens of heated legal battles, including one in Alabama by Roy Moore. He lost his job as chief justice a year ago after defying a federal order to remove a 5,300-pound Ten Commandments monument he had installed in the state courthouse.

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