Ten Commandments poster unconstitutional

MANSFIELD, Ohio — An appellate court has upheld a lower court ruling that an Ohio state judge’s courtroom display of a framed poster of the Ten Commandments is unconstitutional. In a 2–1 decision, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on July 14 affirmed the previous decision that ordered Judge James DeWeese of Richland County to remove the poster.

After the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio filed a lawsuit in 2000, a district court judge ruled the display was unconstitutional. The appellate court agreed, saying the display violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause because it was religious in nature, the ACLU said in a news release.

In a separate but related development, the ACLU also has appealed a different Ten Commandments case to the U.S. Supreme Court. That case involves another decision by the 6th Circuit, which found that a display of the Ten Commandments with other historic documents outside four Adams County, Ohio, high schools was unconstitutional.