The Supreme Court Oral Argument Update

I took extensive notes during both oral arguments today at the Supreme Court involving the Ten Commandments.  Overnight I will be compiling these notes to give a full report as to where each Justice seemed to be going with the Opinion.  With regard to the Kentucky case, it was interesting that Justice Breyer stated that he saw nothing divisive with the Ten Commandment display.  This is a critically important point since he is often opposed to religious acknowledgement in public life.  Even Justice Stevens said that a disclaimer would take care of any type of endorsement.  The Court seemed very receptive to the State of Texas argument concerning the Fraternal Order of Eagles monuments depicting the Ten Commandments.  In fact, there are thousands of these throughout the United States.  What is also interesting to note that Justice Breyer utilized a quote that we closed our brief with.  That quote from Justice Goldberg stated that the history of the United States had frequently acknowledged the role that religion has played in the founding of our country.

Mat Staver did a magnificent job in his oral arguments in the Kentucky case.  The Court seemed to understand the importance of Foundations of Law displays and the impact that the Ten Commandment had on them.  The Court also acknowledged that there is a depiction of Moses holding the Ten Commandments in The Courts own oral argument chamber room.  I am going to review the rest of my notes overnight to give a full report tomorrow morning.

I also want to encourage you to go to the ACLJ website at www.aclj.org.  Following the oral arguments, I was able to broadcast live from the steps of the Supreme Court to our radio audience and also talked to members of the Supreme Court press corps about the cases. I also call your attention to an editorial that appeared in USA Today.  The editorial dealt with the constitutionality of the Ten Commandments.  I also appeared on Capitol Hill in support of a Houses of Worship Free Speech Act.  Finally, I will be appearing on CNN Crossfire and The OReilly Factor this evening on the Ten Commandment cases.