UPDATED JUNE 27, 2005
OCT. 25, 2004

U.S. SUPREME COURT
Split decision on Ten Commandments

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that a Ten Commandments monument outside the Texas state Capitol can stay, while displays inside Kentucky courthouses must go. The forecast for the future: more lawsuits, and plenty of contentious debate, over which of the thousands of Ten Commandments displays in this country pass constitutional muster. The intent and context of the displays shaped the justices' two closely divided opinions, leaving room for legal wrangling over when displays on government property are appropriate. The rulings are also likely to fuel the larger debate over how religious people publicly acknowledge God in a nation that is overwhelmingly Christian but includes a growing number of non-Christians.

In the Texas case, Van Orden v. Perry, the high court ruled 5-4 that a 6-foot monument on the grounds of the Texas state Capitol, positioned among other religious and historical displays, was a tribute to the nation's religious and legal heritage and did not constitute government endorsement of religion. (Read the decision.) In the Kentucky case, McCreary County v. ACLU, the court ruled 5-4 that two displays inside courthouses did imply government endorsement of religion. (Read the decision.)

Many questions - and stories - remain for the months ahead:
• How will the rulings affect other Ten Commandments lawsuits already in the courts?
• How will the rulings affect displays throughout the country, where district courts have previously issued rulings that conflict with each other?
• How will supporters of the displays react? Will they seek to erect more monuments, using the guidelines of the Texas case? Will the Texas ruling bolster their confidence to seek more religious influence in public life in other ways?
• How will detractors of the displays react? Will they seek to remove displays on the grounds of religious intent?
• How will the rulings affect the larger debate about the role of religion in government? With a possible retirement among the justices looming, how might these rulings color debate over other church-state issues? Given the close rulings, how would a change in the Supreme Court justices affect such cases?
• How much time, money and energy will be spent on debates over Ten Commandments displays in the coming months? Why do people on both sides of the debate think this cause is worth such vast resources? What other issues are people on both sides of the debate working on? How do ordinary Americans feel about the amount of money being spent on Ten Commandments debates at a time when poverty, hunger, the Iraq war, Social Security and unemployment are also issues?
• A number of non-Christian religious groups filed court briefs arguing against the displays. Will the rulings encourage more activism among Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and other groups?
• In the last decade, there has been a sharp increase in the number and profile of law firms that specialize in religious issues. What other issues are these law firms working on? In what ways is their influence increasing?
• Polls and support campaigns show that most Americans have no problem with Ten Commandments displays, and many embrace and encourage them. Will the rulings satisfy most Americans that their beliefs are being respected? Or will it inspire them to engage in church-state debates on local, state and national levels?
• The justices considered the intent and context of the displays in their rulings. What about the effect of such displays? What do local community leaders and members say about how Ten Commandments monuments and displays affect their citizens and the way local and state governments acknowledge religion?
• The campaign supporting Ten Commandments displays is overwhelmingly Christian, but not all Christians support them. Will clergy respond to the rulings in sermons this weekend? Church-state issues have become very prominent in public debate; which churches encourage conversation about them within church walls, and which don't? What reasons do they give?
• How will legislators at the state and national level react? What will they hear about the rulings from their constituents? Dozens of bills involving church-state issues are in play in state legislatures at any given time. How might they be affected by the rulings?
• The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution forbids government endorsement of religion but also protects religious expression - two ideals that have been in tension since the country's founding. One justice suggested Monday that the Establishment Clause should be re-examined. What do legal scholars say about which clause is more highly valued now? How has that changed?
• The ban on government endorsement of religion has been cited in many court rulings that protected the rights of members of non-Christian religions. Some argue that those rights have been protected at the expense of Christians' rights. What do religious leaders, people and legal scholars say?
• Religious groups are increasingly finding themselves allied with other religious groups on one or two political issues – such as the environment or stem-cell research -- even when they are bitterly opposed on other issues. How do church-state issues affect those fragile alliances?
• The majority and dissenting opinions in both Ten Commandments rulings included some very divisive language. If the Supreme Court justices are bitterly divided on church-state issues and engage in dispiriting debate, will the rest of the country continue to follow suit? What local and national examples exist where opposing religious or secular groups were able to work together despite their differences to make progress on an issue?

Why it Matters
Court decisions have been divided on whether and when it is appropriate to display the Ten Commandments on government property. This emotionally charged issue has caused dozens upon dozens of lawsuits and community arguments. For some, the issue is the opening wedge in a campaign to establish the United States as a Christian nation. Others say they are fighting to stop a threat to the separation of church and state.

Skip to background

See ReligionLink's timeline of Ten Commandment displays and court rulings, including links to information on current and former court cases.

National sources

IN FAVOR OF POSTING COMMANDMENTS IN GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS
• Mat Staver is president of Liberty Counsel, whose organization is representing the Kentucky counties in the current Supreme Court case. It posts questions the Supreme Court will consider. The Counsel's web site states, "This case will likely affect every single church-state case for the next generation. History is at stake." Contact 407-875-2100.
• Jay Sekulow is chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice in Washington, D.C. He is handling several Ten Commandments cases in the lower courts and says the ACLJ will file briefs in both the current Supreme Court cases. The ACLJ has also appealed to the U.S. Supreme court in an Adams County, Ohio, case involving a public school that displayed the Ten Commandments along with the Bill Rights, the Magna Carta, and the Preamble to the Constitution. Contact 757-575-9520.
• The Center for Reclaiming America in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., supports former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's posting of the Ten Commandments. It is affiliated with D. James Kenndy's Coral Ridge Ministries. Contact 877-725-8872 or 954-351-3353.
• The Rutherford Institute, an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization in Charlottesville, Va., offers constitutional guidelines for displaying religious documents on public property. It has supported groups that wish to display the Ten Commandments. Contact media liaison Nisha N. Mohammed, 434-978-3888 ext. 604, nisha@rutherford.org.
• The Thomas More Law Center is a public-interest law firm dedicated to the defense and promotion of the religious freedom of Christians. It produces and distributes free Ten Commandments book covers for students and supports displaying the Ten Commandments on government property. Contact chief counsel Richard Thompson, in Ann Arbor, Mich., at 734-827-2001.
• Alan Sears is president, CEO and general counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance based in Scottsdale, Ariz., whose focus is defending religious liberty. ADF provided funding for both Supreme Court cases and wrote an amicus brief in the Van Orden case. Contact Sears through media relations, 480-444-0020. See contacts for the fund’s five regional offices.

AGAINST
• Marci A. Hamilton is professor of law and director of the Intellectual Property Law Program at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University. She is a nationally recognized expert on the religion clauses of the First Amendment. Read her 2004 FindLaw analysis of the Establishment Clause issues the Supreme Court will decide. Contact 212-790-0215, Hamilton02@aol.com.
• Derek Davis directs the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The editor of the Journal of Church and State has said that Ten Commandments displays violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Contact 254-710-1510, Derek_davis@baylor.edu.
• Douglas Laycock is Alice McKean Young Regents Chair in Law and associate dean for research at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin. He has said that surrounding Ten Commandments displays with other historic documents and claiming they are posted for historical, not religious, value is a "charade." Contact 512-232-1341, dlaycock@mail.law.utexas.edu.
• The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says that Ten Commandments displays violate the Establishment Clause. Contact 202-466-3234.
• Bryan K. Fair is the Thomas E. Skinner Professor of law at the University of Alabama School of Law, where his specialties include the First Amendment. He wrote a commentary in the August 25, 2003 Jurist journal that said that both the Alabama and the U.S. constitutions do not support state Chief Justice Roy Moore's Ten Commandments efforts. Contact 205-348-7494, bfair@law.ua.edu.
• The American Jewish Congress produced a Ten Commandments booklet calling the battle over the Ten Commandments a battle "for the soul of America." Contact Marc Stern, assistant executive director, 212-360-1545, cell 917-660-4689, mstern@ajcongress.org.
• Manjit Singh, executive director of Sikh Mediawatch And Resource Task Force in Germantown, Md., says members of minority religions, particularly Sikhs, often feel a mix of patriotism and intimidation when confronted with civil religious displays. He says religious patriotism can push minorities to the periphery and casts them aside as Americans. Contact 877-917-4547.
• Nikhil Joshi, a lawyer from Tampa, Fla., is a board member of the Hindu American Foundation who helped prepare that group’s brief asking the Supreme Court to disallow government displays of the Ten Commandments because many Americans, including Hindus, do not ascribe to them. Contact 813-963-7736, nick@laborattys.com.
• Erwin Chemerinsky is the Alston & Bird Professor of Political Science at Duke University Law School. He wrote the Supreme Court brief on behalf of Thomas Van Orden in the Texas case. Contact 919-613-7173, chemerinsky@law.duke.edu.

Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

OTHER SOURCES
• Sue Hoffman, a Seattle area high school teacher, researches the Fraternal Order of Eagles' 1950s campaign that placed Ten Commandments monuments in public parks, at schools, and in front of city and state municipal buildings around the country as gifts to honor individuals, respected groups, and special events. Many of these monoliths - including the monument at the Texas State Capitol - are the subject of lawsuits. Contact 253-735-9981, hoffman014@comcast.net.
• Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the Gannett Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., can discuss the historical underpinning of such disputes. He says there are too many Ten Commandments cases in the courts at this point to keep track of them all. Read Haynes' Oct. 17, 2004, commentary on the new Supreme Court cases and a Nov. 10, 2002, column in which he says the Ten Commandments push is part of a wider agenda by conservative Christians. Contact 703-528-0800, Chaynes@freedomforum.org.

Background

When the Supreme Court issues its opinion in the Ten Commandments cases, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life will publish the findings of a recent poll on public attitudes toward displaying the commandments. The organization has also published a non-partisan backgrounder on the Ten Commandments cases. The website contains transcripts from recent public events.

RECENT ARTICLES
• Read a June 27, 2005, Christian Science Monitor story about the Supreme Court rulings.
• Read a June 27, 2005, Associated Press story about the decisions posted by The Washington Post.
• Read a March 7, 2005, CNN.com story about the U.S. Supreme Court’s oral arguments in the case.
• Read a March 3, 2005, legal analysis from the First Amendment Center on why the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Ten Commandments may not definitively resolve issues regarding public displays.
• Read a Feb. 27, 2005, New York Times story about the place of the Ten Commandments in American life.
• Read a Feb. 27, 2005, article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that discusses the increasing pluralism in the United States and how that affects views about Ten Commandments displays. It is posted by the Hindu American Foundation.

LEGAL BACKGROUND
• Read a Oct. 13, 2004, Washington Post story posted by the ACLJ about the U.S. Supreme Court agreeing to hear the two Ten Commandments cases.
• Americans United for Separation of Church & State posts a commentary on why the Ten Commandments should not be posted in government buildings. It also offers an analysis of caselaw involving Ten Commandment displays in non-school, government buildings.
• The American Center for Law and Justice has a resources page on the Ten Commandments that also tracks cases it is involved in. A commentary explains its stand.
• In February 2004 the Constitution Restoration Act of 2004, S. 2082, (search by bill number) sponsored by Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby and supported by ousted Alabama State Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, was introduced in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. A similar bill, H.R. 3799 (search by bill number) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives the same month. The bills would ban federal courts from finding government acknowledgments of religion a violation of the First Amendment and promote federalism.
• Read the First Amendment Center’s overview of issues involving the public display of the Ten Commandments and other documents.

JUDGE ROY MOORE
• Read a history of Moore's Ten Commandments battle as well as other materials supporting Moore at Reclaiming America: Defending the Ten Commandments.
• Read an Oct. 25, 2002, Washington Post story about how Judge Roy Moore has become a folk hero.

POLLS
• An August 2004 poll by the Pew Research Center and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that a majority of the public (72 percent) believes that it is proper to display the commandments in public buildings; just 23 percent say this is improper. More Republicans (86 percent) than Democrats (64 percent) say it is proper to display the Ten Commandments in government buildings. Among certain Kerry voters a majority (57%) agree. Seculars are evenly divided on the question (45% say it is proper, 48% improper).
• An Aug. 1, 2003, poll by the First Amendment Center and the American Journalism Review found that 62% of those surveyed said government officials should be allowed to post the Ten Commandments inside government buildings.
• A November 2003 CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll found 77 percent of the 1,009 Americans interviewed disapproved of the federal court order that ordered that Judge Roy Moore's Ten Commandments monument be removed from the Alabama Judicial Building. Read a Nov. 14, 2003, CNN.com story.
• In a 1990 Gallup poll, 42 percent of adults were able to name as many as five of the Ten Commandments correctly.

RELIGION BACKGROUND
• Read an Oct. 23, 2004, Washington Post article (registration required) about how the different versions of the Ten Commandments could figure into U.S. Supreme Court arguments.
• The Ten Commandments are basic tenets for the more than 80 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Christian or Jewish. Proponents of public postings say the commandments are a critical historical document that should help guide Americans' everyday actions. Critics say four of the commandments are explicitly religious and that posting them constitutes the state endorsement of religion.
• The Ten Commandments are listed in three places in the Bible, Exodus 20:2-17, Exodus 34:12-26, and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. Exodus 20 is the most commonly used set. Christians and Jews of varying traditions group them differently. Christian scriptures can be searched at gospelcom.net. Read the Jewish version at a Web page devoted to Shavuot, the commemoration of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai.