High Court Petitioned to Settle Ten Commandments Question
by Allie Martin
June 24, 2004
(AgapePress) - Three Kentucky counties have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear cases involving the public display of the Ten Commandments. The case filed by Liberty Counsel involves two courthouses in Pulaski and McCreary Counties that displayed the biblical commands along with the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, and other historically significant documents.
The Harlan County School Board also created a similar display that included, in addition to the commandments, a limited public forum where members of the community can post additional historical documents. In all three counties, the displays were intended to exhibit historical documents and symbols that play a significant role in the founding of the American system of law and government.
Erik Stanley of Liberty Counsel notes that the law firm's petition to the Supreme Court urges its taking the case in order to resolve a longstanding conflict among the federal circuit courts over the constitutionality of Ten Commandments displays. He says the high court must deal with this issue.
"Since 1980 when the court decided the case of Stone v. Graham, which was the only Ten Commandments case that the court has ever decided," Stanley says, " there have been 28 cases involving the Ten Commandments, 24 of those alone since 1999."
At the same time, the attorney points out that the Supreme Court has opted not to hear Ten Commandments cases six times, four of those times alone since 2001. Meanwhile, he says, "The federal district courts and circuit courts have gone every which way on those issues, and so there really is a lot of confusion."
Stanley feels it is high time the high court cleared up the many misconceptions that abound regarding the public display of the biblical laws. "We've heard from governmental entities all over the country who are afraid to enter into displaying the Ten Commandments, even for their historical value," he says.
Mat Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, says the lower federal courts are in "a hopeless morass of confusion" on this issue. However, he states that the Ten Commandments have unquestionably played a significant role in the origin of American law and government and the U.S. Constitution does not in any way prohibit their being displayed for their historical significance.
Liberty Counsel is a nonprofit litigation, education and policy organization that works to promote the advancement of religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and the traditional family.
