ACLJ's Jay Sekulow Defends Constitutionality of Ten Commandments Displays at Pew Forum Debate in Washington, D.C.

February 25, 2005

(Washington, DC) Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), on Thursday defended the constitutionality of public displays of the Ten Commandments in a lively debate with Douglas Laycock, Assoc. Dean for Research at the University of Texas School of Law.  The debate was carried live on C-SPAN and was moderated by Luis Lugo, Director, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, which sponsored the event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

These will be very close cases at the Supreme Court," said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ, who has argued numerous church/state cases at the high court and who is assisting attorneys who will present oral arguments in the two Commandments cases to be heard at the Supreme Court on March 2nd.  "The Commandments have served as the basis for our legal system in this country and it seems that by taking two very different cases -- one out of Texas and the other out of Kentucky -- the Supreme Court is likely to engage in some line drawing and could very well come up with decisions that provide a constitutional framework for displaying the Ten Commandments in public areas.  After all, the Supreme Court has numerous depictions of the Ten Commandments in its own court building - even in its own chamber.  With this issue, context matters and these are not easy cases." 

During the debate, Sekulow often referred to the amicus brief filed by the ACLJ at the Supreme Court that documents the hundreds of Ten Commandments displays in courthouses and public buildings across America, which in some cases have been on display for many decades. 

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two Commandments cases on March 2, 2005.  In addition to filing briefs at the high court in support of the constitutionality of the Commandments, the ACLJ has two cases pending before the high court that are likely to be tied directly to the outcome of the two cases to be argued next Wednesday. The ACLJ is also litigating numerous Commandments cases across the nation.

Led by Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, the American Center for Law and Justice focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington, D.C.