Veteran Court reporter Linda Greenhouse believes they may be, and that this time the votes could be there to deal a blow to the separation of church and state.
Believe it or not, a familiar Ten Commandments case is now heading back to the Supreme Court. The court has spent years making a nearly complete hash out of the public display of religious symbols, and the prospect of watching lawyers and justices engage in still more contorted efforts to attach supposedly secular meaning to obviously sectarian objects and texts is not a pleasant one. But the case could provide a window on how committed the Roberts court is to the project that some justices have clearly embraced, that of carving out more space for religion in the public square.
The case is McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky. And if you think you've heard that name before, you probably have. It's the same case the court decided 5 years ago, the courthouse display found unconstitutional. But that was just at the preliminary injunction phase, and in the meantime the suit has continued to plod along, with County officials confidently sounding ready to give the high court another try.
Greenhouse's analysis is a must-read.
