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Journalism of Courage
The US Supreme Court, which has been closely split on religious issues, announced on Tuesday that it will decide whether a government display of the Ten Commandments at public buildings violates the First Amendment’s ban on ‘‘an establishment of religion.’’
Plaques and monuments depicting the biblical commandments stand at the center of the continuing dispute over the meaning of the US Constitution. Does it create a ‘‘wall of separation between church and state,’’ as President Thomas Jefferson once said, or does it permit officials to publicly recognise the nation’s religious heritage?
The court said it would take up two Ten Commandment cases.The first concerns a six-foot-tall granite monument just outside the main entrance of the Texas State Capitol in Austin. A gift from the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1961, it stands in the vicinity of several other monuments, including memorials to Texas war veterans. The Texas case has an unusual history. Thomas Van Orden, a former criminal defense lawyer who became homeless after suffering a mental disorder, brought a suit against the state and argued his own case.
‘‘I didn’t sue religion,’’ Van Orden, 59, said. ‘‘I sued the state for putting a religious monument on the Capitol grounds.’’ Though Van Orden lost in federal courts, Supreme Court agreed to hear his case.
The second case arose when judges in three eastern Kentucky counties decided in 1999 to post copies of the Ten Commandments in their courthouses. The American Civil Liberties Union sued and won, but the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal from the judges in McCreary County vs. ACLU.
The two cases will be argued in February in the Supreme Court, where a partial depiction of the Commandments can be seen in a ceiling panel high above the courtroom. In 1932, when the Supreme Court building was under construction, Adolph Weinman was hired to sculpt a ceiling panel that depicted 18 famous lawgivers. They include Hammurabi from ancient Babylon, Solomon of ancient Israel and Confucius as well as Sir William Blackstone, the 18th-century English jurist, and Napoleon Bonaparte. It also includes Moses,holding a tablet that represents the Ten Commandments. —(LAT-WP)
