Judge Says Ten Commandments Monument Can Stay

U.S. District Court Judge James Carr said this week that a Ten Commandments monument by the Fraternal Order of Eagles placed outside the Lucas County Courthouse is constitutional. The ACLU of Ohio sued Lucas County in 2002 to have the display removed, saying it was unconstitutional and inappropriately promoted religion. Interestingly, Judge Carr in his order cited a law review article that I drafted along with ACLJ Senior Counsel Frank Manion. The law review article entitled "The Supreme Court and The Ten Commandments: Compounding the Establishment Clause Confusion," was published in the William & Mary's Bill of Rights Journal last year.  We noted that the Supreme Court's conflicting decisions in the Ten Commandments cases did nothing to "clear away the fog obscuring religious display cases."

The good news is that our law review article was cited and the Court held that the monument can stay. This case follows up on our significant win at the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that held that a Ten Commandments monument in Kentucky is, in fact, constitutional and can stay in place. So far, the developments on the Ten Commandments cases since decisions last year have been moving in the right direction for our position.

We have filed a brief in the Kentucky Ten Commandments case now with the entire Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals because the ACLU has requested the case be reheard en banc. En banc review means that they have asked the entire Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case rather than the three-judge panel that initially ruled in our favor.

We will keep you posted as the issue continues to progress.