Litigants Debate Displaying Biblical Laws Before SCOTUS

by Jenni Parker and Allie Martin
March 2, 2005

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(AgapePress) - Oral arguments involving the display of the Ten Commandments on public property took place today (March 2) before the Supreme Court of the United States. The high court is hearing two separate cases that involve displays of the commandments on government venues in Texas and in Kentucky.

Lower courts have split on the issue now before the Supreme Court justices. According to opponents who are challenging a Ten Commandments monument on the Texas Capitol grounds and displays of the Commandments in Kentucky courthouses, publicly displaying the biblical laws constitutes government endorsement of religion and therefore violates the U.S. Constitution. Meanwhile, defenders of such displays contend that they do not establish religion at all, but simply acknowledge a primary component of America's legal heritage.

But Erwin Chemerinsky, an attorney for the plaintiff in the Texas Ten Commandments Case does not buy the defenders' arguments. According to Associated Press reports, while some may claim that including the biblical laws in displays or monuments on government property is no different from including "In God we trust" on U.S. currency, he believes an important distinction must be made.

"'In God we trust' has relatively minimal religious content," Chemerinsky says. "It really is a form of what the Supreme Court has called ceremonial deism." On the other hand, the lawyer asserts that the Ten Commandments are understood, at least by adherents of those religions that believe in them, to be God's rules for how people should lead their lives. "It really denigrates religion to say that the Ten Commandments have minimal religious content," he says.

Mat Staver

Mat Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, is presenting oral arguments for the Kentucky case. Despite the assertions of the plaintiffs, he argues that the familiar commandments from the Judeo-Christian tradition are indeed an integral part of U.S. legal history. In an Associated Press interview, he observed that many of these biblical guidelines "have influenced our laws, such as laws regarding murder, theft, and perjury," and that the Mosaic principle regarding perjury "forms the foundation of our courts of justice," even as "the Sabbath has influenced our Sunday laws."

Also, Staver pointed out that the Ten Commandments is prominently displayed about the high court's own judicial building. "When you go into the United States Supreme Courthouse," he said, "you cannot enter that courtroom unless you first see the Ten Commandments on the double doors. Or when you exit on the side gates, [the Commandments are] there as well, because they have influenced American law and government."

An associate of Staver's, Eric Stanley, says Liberty Counsel has been doing preliminary work on this case for some time now. He notes, "Matt has been preparing, and our whole legal team has been assisting him to prepare, for the last six months. Ever since we heard that the Supreme Court was doing this, we've been preparing by doing the briefing."

Stanley says the Liberty Counsel attorneys have likened their team's work leading up to these arguments before the Supreme Court to athletes making ready for the Olympics. "It's been a long training session," he adds, "and now we're looking at the big event."

A recent Associated Press poll found more than three-fourths of Americans questioned believe displays of the Ten Commandments should be allowed on government property. Some pro-family groups and individuals are cautiously optimistic that the Supreme Court judges will affirm the constitutionality of the public displays, along with other symbols of law on government property.

Jan LaRue

Jan LaRue of Concerned Women for America is among those who are hopeful the high court will rule in favor of the Ten Commandments displays. "The Supreme Court should be able to see straight through the bogus arguments of special interest groups whose only motivation appears to be erasing any recognition of God from our public life," she says.

"Setting the Ten Commandments on public display is an acknowledgement of the cultural and legal history of the United States," LaRue contends. "It is light years from establishing a national church, which is what the First Amendment prohibits." If not, the pro-family spokeswoman adds, the next sound citizens hear may be "that of a hammer and chisel on the Ten Commandments in the Court's own building."