Ten Commandments Ruling Hailed as Evidence of Tide Turning Against ACLU
by Jenni Parker
April 25, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Pro-family attorneys are hailing the decision of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a three-judge panel's prior ruling allowing the Ten Commandments to remain on display at Kentucky's Mercer County Courthouse.Last December the Sixth Circuit panel unanimously ruled the Mercer County Ten Commandments display constitutional on the grounds that its purpose is historical rather than religious. The Sixth Circuit Court has jurisdiction over Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan.
In yesterday's 19-5 vote by the full court, the majority of the judges refused to rehear the case of ACLU of Kentucky v. Mercer County, Kentucky, rejecting arguments by the American Civil Liberties Union that the Commandments display violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The court's ruling allows the panel's previous decision to uphold the constitutionality of the display to stand.
According to an Associated Press report, in the December 2005 ruling the panel cited the fact that the courthouse's biblical laws are displayed alongside replicas of nine other historic documents, including the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. The judges also noted that the font size is the same for all the documents, and no attempt was made to put the religious document at a higher level.
A dissenting judge on the Sixth Circuit Court argued that the Mercer County display was similar to two other Kentucky counties' displays that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional last year. However, Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law & Justice, one of the legal groups representing Mercer County, says the full court's ultimate decision demonstrates the majority's belief "that its three-judge panel ruled correctly in upholding the constitutionality of this display."
An 'Important Defeat' for Secularists, A 'Great Victory' for Religious Liberty
Yesterday's ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court is "an important defeat," Sekulow contends, both for the ACLU and for other groups "committed to removing our religious heritage and traditions from the public square." If the case is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, he adds, he and his group stand ready to defend the Ten Commandments display "and remain confident that the constitutionality of the display will prevail."
Mercer County was also represented by Liberty Counsel, another legal organization that specializes in defending religious freedom. Mathew D. Staver, Liberty Counsel's president and general counsel, is hailing the Sixth Circuit's decision as a great victory that has begun to "turn the tide against the ACLU."
Mat Staver | |
The ACLU has been on what Staver calls a "search-and-destroy mission to remove all vestiges of our religious history from public view." But whether that liberal civil liberties organization likes it or not, he asserts, "history is crystal clear that each one of the Ten Commandments played an important role in the founding of our system of law and government."The Liberty Counsel spokesman believes federal courts are beginning to reject extreme notions of the so-called separation of church and state. After all, he notes, the Sixth Circuit expressly rejected the ACLU's "repeated reference" to the Establishment Clause, saying that this "extra-constitutional construct has grown tiresome" and noting, "The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state."
It is about time, Staver insists, that courts start interpreting the Constitution of the United States according to its original purpose. And with the recent changes of personnel on the nation's highest court bench, he says, "the trend toward a more historical approach to the First Amendment is well under way."
The original, three-judge panel in ACLU of Kentucky v. Mercer County adopted the reasoning of the Seventh Circuit Court in Books v. Elkhart County, an earlier Liberty Counsel case in which the court upheld an identical Ten Commandments display. Liberty Counsel notes that public displays of the biblical laws have enjoyed unprecedented favor in courts and legislatures since two Ten Commandments cases were argued at the Supreme Court last year.
Last week, the legal group notes, Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue signed House Bill 941, a law permitting the exhibit of the Ten Commandments as part of a "Foundations of American Law and Government" display in public buildings across the state. Liberty Counsel defended this same display last year before the U.S. Supreme Court, and two federal courts have upheld it in the past several months.
Likewise, on April 10, 2006, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher signed a bill allowing the posting of the Ten Commandments. Meanwhile, the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which governs Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, has upheld a stand-alone Ten Commandments monument.
Also, a federal district court in Toledo, Ohio, upheld a Commandments display that had been on the courthouse lawn for 50 years. So far, the ACLU has not asked the Supreme Court to review these cases. Liberty Counsel's president believes the reason is obvious.
"The tide is turning against the ACLU's war on the Ten Commandments," Staver says. "The courts and history are working against the ACLU."
