Court declines review of Commandments case

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review a lower-court ruling that a display of the 10 Commandments on government property is unconsitutional.

The high court’s Feb. 25 action allowed to stand an opinion by the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that a granite monument including an engraving of the 10 Commandments and proposed for placement on the Indiana State Capitol grounds violated the First Amendment’s restriction against government establishment of religion.

In July, the Supreme Court also declined to review a similar decision by the Seventh Circuit in which the appeals court ruled a 10 Commandments monument on public property in Elkhart, Ind., was unconstitutional.