CUMBERLAND, Md. — Allegany County officials moved a Ten Commandments monument that has been the subject of First Amendment debate back to the courthouse lawn.
The 1,600-pound granite marker had been on the lawn since 1957. Last week, commissioners moved it 30 yards to private property to pre-empt a possible lawsuit alleging it violated church-state separation.
They ordered it moved back a day later after public outcry and a U.S. Supreme Court decision to review the case of a similar monument at the Texas state capitol.
In Utah, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that a Ten Commandments monument in Duchesne city was constitutional. The monument is in a city park, but the city no longer owns the 10-by-11-foot piece of land where the monument sits. Duchesne sold the plot to the family of the monument's donor.