Ten Commandments Litigation Update

This morning I asked Frank Manion, Senior Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, to give me an update on the Ten Commandments cases that are being litigated around the country.  We have seen great success on this issue, but I wanted to give you a sense of what is happening in the most recent challenge.  The ACLU has initiated federal litigation in Kentucky against a Foundations of Law & Government display in the Garrard County Courthouse.  In addition to the Ten Commandments, the display includes other historical documents such as the Magna Carta and Bill of Rights.  The issue in the case is whether under the Supreme Courts decisions in McCreary County and Van Orden, the display can pass constitutional muster.  Last fall, in a case that fit squarely within the two decisions, ACLU v. Mercer County, the Sixth Circuit ruled in our favor.  The court there asserted that the ACLUs arguments over church-state separation were growing tiresome.  We are currently drafting a Motion for Summary Judgment that will be filed by the end of this month on behalf of Garrard County, Kentucky. 

In Utah, we have another case that has developed thats now on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.  A New Age religious organization has sued the city of Pleasant Grove in order to have its quasi-religious monument erected next to a Fraternal Order of Eagles Ten Commandments monolith in a public park.  The issue in the case is whether the First Amendment requires the city to erect the New Age religious monument in its park, despite the fact that neither the monument nor its donor has any historical connection with the city.  The law in the Tenth Circuit is clear that permanent monuments in a public area constitute non-public forums.  As a non-public forum, the city is permitted to exclude access to that area based on speaker identity, though not on viewpoint.  The plaintiffs are represented by a prominent atheist lawyer who is using this tactic to force removal of Ten Commandments monuments throughout Utah.  If successful, we can expect to see this strategy used by the ACLU all over the country.  This is why we have assembled our senior legal team to fight this attempt to remove these Ten Commandments displays.  We are expecting a date for oral argument in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals for this case in the next few weeks.  I will keep everyone posted as it develops.

Also in Utah, another New Age religious group has challenged the city of Duchesnes sale of a Ten Commandments monument and a parcel of land to a private party.  The monument and parcel were sold in order to avoid any Establishment Clause difficulties.  The issue before the court was whether the sale itself involved the Establishment Clause.  The case is similar to three others that we prevailed on behalf of a city selling a Ten Commandments monument to a private party.  We won cases in Marshfield, Wisconsin; La Crosse, Wisconsin; and Frederick, Maryland.  These cases are also similar to the victory we obtained in the Mt. Soledad case in San Diego, in which we are awaiting oral argument from the Ninth Circuit.

As you can see, the workload on these cases continues at a significant pace, and we will keep everybody posted.