Renowned Expert on Law and Religion Joins ACLJ in Asking Supreme Court to Uphold Constitutionality of Commandments in Texas

January 31, 2005

(Washington, DC) - The American Center for Law and Justice, focusing on constitutional law, is joined by renowned law professor, Harold J. Berman one of the nations foremost experts on law and religion in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the high court to uphold an appeals court ruling that declared a Ten Commandments display in Texas constitutional.  The case is Van Orden v. Perry. (No. 03-1500)

The Ten Commandments have played a vital role in the development of our history and their public display acknowledges that heritage, said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ, which is involved in numerous Commandments cases, including two pending before the high court.  The development of Western law is tied directly to the Commandments.  Were delighted that Professor Berman has joined with us in crafting a very comprehensive historical analysis of the role the Commandments has played in our history.

The ACLJ brief is co-authored by Harold J. Berman, the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University.  He is also the James Barr Ames Professor of Law, emeritus, at Harvard University where he taught from 1948 to 1985 and again in 1986 and 1989.  Professor Berman has written numerous books and articles including his prize-winning book Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition. (1983)  He specializes in world law and the western legal tradition.         

The brief provides a detailed analysis of the role that the Commandments has played in the formation of Western law and argues that the Commandments are an integral part of the legal heritage of Western civilization.  The brief states:  To require its removal from the walls of American courthouses and other public settings because it refers to the God of Israel as a source of fundamental legal obligations would be similar to requiring the removal of the Declaration of Independence because it refers to Natures God and to the Creator and to divine providence as the source of the equality of all persons and of the universal rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The significance of such documents has been noted numerous times by members of the Supreme Court including Justice Arthur J. Goldberg who wrote this in 1963:  [n]either government nor this Court can or should ignore the significance of the fact that many of our legal, political and personal values derive historically from religious teaching. 

In the Van Orden case, lower courts upheld the constitutionality of the Commandments a gift by the Fraternal Order of Eagles on display outside the Texas State Capitol for nearly 45 years.  The ACLJ also has filed an amicus brief in a second case being considered by the Supreme Court this term a case out of Kentucky.

The ACLJ, which is involved in numerous Commandments cases nationwide, has two pending before the Supreme Court a case involving a display outside public high schools in Adams County, Ohio and a case involving the display of a framed poster of the Commandments in the courtroom of a state judge in Ohio.  

The American Center for Law and Justice is based in Washington, D.C.