ACLU loses another Ten Commandments case

                                                                                                                                                                     Vol. XXIII, No. 3, March 2010

    The American Civil Liberties Union, which has made a practice of contesting Ten Commandments displays in public places nationwide, has not won a case at the court of appeals level since 2005, and in January they lost another.

A 2-1 decision by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals found Jan. 14 that posting the Ten Commandments at the Grayson County courthouse in Kentucky did not violate the U.S. Constitution because it was part of a display of historical documents, including the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, and the Bill of Rights.

The ACLU said religion was the primary motivation behind posting the Ten Commandments, not educational or historical reasons. But the court found that available evidence did not support that contention.

County officials were forced to remove the document from a frame on the second floor of the courthouse in 2002 when the ACLU first filed a lawsuit, and more than 200 people were there Jan. 18 when the Ten Commandments were returned to the frame. They sang "God Bless America" and "Amazing Grace" and then ate a sheet cake decorated with an American flag, according to the Associated Press.

Liberty Counsel picked up the legal costs the county would have incurred, and the group's founder, Mathew Staver, presented oral arguments on behalf of Grayson County last year.

"The Ten Commandments are as much at home in a display about the foundation of law as stars and stripes are to the American flag," Staver said. "The Ten Commandments are part of the fabric of our country and helped shape the law. It defies common sense to remove a recognized symbol of law from a court of law.

"The ACLU might not like our history and might run from it, but the fact remains that the Ten Commandments shaped our laws and may be displayed in a court of law," Staver added. "I am sure the ACLU will not ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review this case. The ACLU has been running from the Supreme Court since 2005 and has taken loss after loss on the Ten Commandments."