Via Religion Clause, the pair of Kentucky counties embroiled in years of litigation over Ten Commandments displays are now faced with the task of coming up with the money to pay the fees racked up from continued losses in court. Pulaski County has begun paying already, while McCreary County is still working on a loan from a local bank.
The counties owed the ACLU a total of more than $460,000 in legal fees and interest because of the organization's successful legal challenge to the displays.
McCreary County has not yet paid its share of the judgment. Its payment will be somewhat higher than Pulaski County's because interest continues to accrue on its portion of the debt.
Rather than accepting the clear judgment of courts that displays with a religious purpose are unconstitutional, and saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, these counties tried to disguise their intent with what later courts determined to be a "sham." That persistence may have been a short-term political winner in those counties, but it was a long-term losing approach, both in courts and for taxpayers.
My question for county officials is: Why not err on the side of taxpayers, which is the side of religious freedom for all, and leave religious monuments and displays to our cherished houses of worship and private homes? Why not?
