Religious displays debated in court

Opponents of government displays of the Ten Commandments told the Supreme Court yesterday that such monuments are an endorsement of Christianity, while state officials and their supporters maintain that the displays are historical and acknowledge the roots of U.S. law.

“The Ten Commandments have an undeniable religious significance, but they also have a secular significance as a source of the law, a code of the law and a well-recognized historical symbol of the law,” acting Solicitor General Paul Clement said.

In two cases expected to have wide impact on the relationship between governments and religion, the justices heard oral arguments about whether such Ten Commandments displays on government property violate the First Amendment’s prohibition on the establishment of religion.

One case centers on a 6-foot-high Ten Commandments monument that has sat on the grounds of the Texas Capitol since 1961, and the other involves framed posters of the Commandments in two Kentucky courthouses.

The government can erect religious symbols such as the Ten Commandments, but “it must do so in a way that does not endorse or support any particular religion,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, the lawyer arguing that the Texas monument is unconstitutional.

“Here you have a monument that claims not only is there a God, but God has dictated 10 rules for behavior,” he said.

Because it is the only symbol of its kind on statehouse grounds, Mr. Chemerinsky said the Texas monument marks a clear endorsement by the state of a particular brand of religious beliefs.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott disagreed, saying his state’s monument is in “a museum setting” near 17 other monuments around the Capitol. It fits, he said, within an overall theme of “historical influences” on the state.

Similar battles have been fought in dozens of lower courts and in communities across the country, where monuments or references to the Commandments pepper an unknown number of courthouses and other government buildings.

A wide carving high on the wall inside the Supreme Court depicts several classic figures from the history of law. Among them is Moses, shown carrying a tablet with the Commandments written in Hebrew.

Repeatedly during yesterday’s arguments, litigants and Supreme Court justices gestured toward the carving to make their points.

“There’s an obvious theme,” said Justice David H. Souter as he pointed toward the carving, which shows Moses next to 17 other figures including Confucius, Napoleon and Muhammad, who holds the Koran. “Anyone who looks at this scene says, ‘They’re getting at lawgivers.’

“On the Texas grounds, as far as I can see, there is no common theme,” he said.

But Justice Antonin Scalia disagreed, noting that legislative proclamations and prayer invoking God’s name are permissible.

“I don’t see why the one is good and the other is bad,” he said.

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