In a controversial pair of decisions announced 4 years ago, the Supreme Court declared some Ten Commandment monuments displayed on public property constitutional, and some not, depending on the context of their presentation and history. The losing display in that split was in McCreary County, Kentucky, where the court ruled that the intent of the monument was religious and therefore disallowed. Now, officials there have revamped it and are back in court arguing that the new context renders the past intent moot. Oral arguments were heard yesterday.
"They have done everything possible to wipe away the past," said Mathew Staver, an attorney representing McCreary and Pulaski counties. "They have indicated their purpose is completely and wholly secular."
But attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union said the counties are trying to pull a fast one on the courts. They argued Tuesday that changing the display does not change 10 years of history that clearly show a religious purpose behind the current display.
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"This was a lawyer telling a client, 'You've got a better chance of winning if you do this,'" said ACLU lawyer David Friedman. "It was a litigation-driven resolution … We have to look at the rest of the history, and the history shows a blatantly sectarian purpose."The question before the 6th Circuit is how much that purpose matters if the current display now passes constitutional muster.
