Contemporary Business and Online Commerce Law 7th Edition by Henry R Cheeseman

Exercise 10

Public Policy McCreary County and Pulaski County (the Counties), Kentucky, placed in their courthouses large, gold-framed copies of the Ten Commandments. In both courthouses, the Ten Commandments were prominently displayed so that visitors could see them. The Ten Commandments hung alone, not with other paintings and such. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky (ACLU) sued the Counties in U.S. District Court, alleging that the placement of the Ten Commandments in the courthouses violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. District Court granted a preliminary injunction ordering the removal of the Ten Commandments from both courthouses. The Counties added copies of the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and other nonreligious items to the display of the Ten Commandments. The U.S. District Court reissued the injunction against this display, and the U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed. The Counties appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

What does the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provide? What public policy supports the Establishment Clause? Did the addition of the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and other nonreligious items to the display of the Ten Commandments change it from a religious display to a secular display? Does the display of the Ten Commandments in the Counties’ courthouses violate the Establishment Clause? McCreary County, Kentucky v. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, 545 U.S. 844,125 S.Ct. 2722,162 L.Ed.2d 729, Web 2005 U.S. Lexis 5211 (Supreme Court of the United States)