The Supreme Court, which 14 years ago banned the Ten Commandments from classroom walls in public schools, refused Tuesday to let them and other religious laws be posted in a county courthouse.
The justices, without comment, let stand rulings that forced Cobb County, Ga., officials to remove from their courthouse complex a 3-by-5-foot framed panel containing the Ten Commandments and teachings of Jesus.In a bold appeal, county officials had urged the justices to allow greater accommodation of religion in public life.
"The judicial branch of our government has been allowed to coerce the American people into an amoral straight jacket which has begun to tear our society apart at the seams," the appeal said. "No society, nor any individual, can navigate the stormy seas of life for very long without a spiritual or moral compass and rudder. In this regard, religion serves a secular purpose."
The panel was donated to Cobb County, and until 1967 hung outside the original county courthouse. When that building was destroyed, the panel was moved inside the Cobb County State Court Building in Marietta. It hung for 27 years on a wall across the hall from the traffic court courtrooms.
The panel contains the commandments and the great commandments taught by Jesus: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Bruce Harvey, a criminal defense lawyer, and James Cunningham, a county resident, sued in 1992 to get the panel removed.
Their lawsuit said the panel violated the constitutionally required separation between government and religion.
A federal trial judge and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, and ordered the county to remove the panel. It was taken down March 14.
The lower courts relied heavily on a 1980 Supreme Court decision that struck down a Kentucky law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.
In their appeal, Cobb County officials said the 1980 ruling shouldn't apply in this case because it involved government conduct "in the context of a compelled educational setting."
The appeal said the lower court rulings are "tantamount to calling for removal of all references to the Ten Commandments or God from U.S. currency and from public buildings."
But U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob had ruled that the Ten Commandments panel could remain in the courthouse if officials were willing to make it part of a larger educational display outlining various influences on modern law.
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Other rulings
The justices also:
- Ruled that states can require operators of hydroelectric power plants to keep a minimum amount of stream flow to protect fish.
- Rejected a challenge to a Dallas curfew called unconstitutional by some teenagers and their parents.
- Let stand rulings that cited free-speech considerations in throwing out a lawsuit against TV host Phil Donahue and the mother of an 11-year-old rape victim who told her story on his show.