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Court Allows Mercer Display: Judges Rule That It's Historic, Not Religious

Posted on: Wednesday, 21 December 2005, 09:00 CST

By Beth Musgrave, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky., The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

Dec. 21--Mercer County can keep its display of the Ten Commandments, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday.

The display, which includes documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta, was clearly historic and did not promote religion, the three-judge panel ruled.

Yesterday's decision came just six months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that McCreary and Pulaski counties can not display the Ten Commandments. Those displays went too far in endorsing religion, the majority wrote.

The difference between the McCreary and Pulaski county cases and the Mercer County case, the Sixth Circuit said, was intent. Officials in McCreary and Pulaski counties first hung framed copies of the Ten Commandments in 1999. After the displays were challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, the counties added other historic documents.

In the Mercer County display, however, historic documents were always included.

David Friedman, general counsel of the ACLU of Kentucky, which challenged the Mercer County display, said the group was disappointed with yesterday's decision. He said the ACLU has not decided whether it will appeal the decision, which affirmed a lower court's ruling.

The group may ask the entire U.S. Sixth Circuit to rehear the case or appeal it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Courts across the country are closely split on these issues," Friedman said. "This panel is more tolerant of government conduct that endorses religion."

But those who have defended counties in their quest to post the Old Testament edicts said yesterday's decision is a sign that judicial opinion on the separation of church and state is moving to the right.

"It gives a road map to cities and counties that want to display the Ten Commandments," said Francis A. Manion, of the American Center for Law and Justice, which represented Mercer County in the case. Manion also represents other counties in Kentucky facing similar lawsuits.

Mathew Staver, general counsel of Florida-Based Liberty Counsel, which represented McCreary, Pulaski and Mercer counties, thinks the U.S. Supreme Court will back off its position that government should remain neutral in its stance on religion in coming months. If Samuel Alito is confirmed as a replacement for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, considered a key swing vote on the court, the court's opinions on such things as the separation of church and state could become more conservative, Staver said.

"A majority of the judges in this case, and I think soon at the U.S. Supreme Court, believe that the Ten Commandments are constitutional," Staver said. "The court wrote that the ACLU's argument on the separation of church and state is becoming very tiresome ... I think they're moving away from the extreme separation of church and state to one that is more consistent with the First Amendment."

Carroll Rousey, a retired dry-wall contractor who paid for and put up the 2001 Mercer County display, said he never lost faith that the courts and the law would be on his side.

"I knew we had won when they ruled in the Pulaski County case that each display had to stand on its own," Rousey said.

Rousey, who said he committed himself to God on New Year's Eve in 2000, began asking local businesses to post the Ten Commandments in 2001. Rousey says more than 700 businesses and other organizations in 10 counties now have the Ten Commandments posted.

"I feel that this is what the Lord wanted me to do," Rousey said.

But Judge Richard F. Suhrheinrich, writing for the appeals panel, said the record showed that the Mercer County display "has a secular purpose. Unlike McCreary County, there is nothing in the legislative history or implementation that tends to prove a religious purpose. Nor does the display have the effect of endorsing religion."

John D. Trisler, judge-executive of Mercer County, said the county was pleased that it was able to keep its Harrodsburg courthouse display intact. The legal work on the case has been donated and no county money has been used to fight the lawsuit, he said.

Officials in Rowan and Garrard counties think a U.S. District Court judge will rule in their favor after yesterday's decision. The ACLU also filed legal challenges against those two displays but the cases were stayed last year pending the U.S. Supreme Court decision.

"We're delighted that the courts ruled in favor of the display in Mercer County," said Clyde A. Thomas, judge-executive of Rowan County. "Ours here in Rowan County will be OK as well."

Reach Beth Musgrave at (859) 231-3205, 1-800-950-6397 (ext. 3205) or at bmusgrave@herald-leader.com [mailto:bmusgrave@herald-leader.com].

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

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Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.)

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