OKLAHOMA CITY — If allowed to stand, an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling banning a privately funded Ten Commandments display on the state capitol grounds could lead to the removal of similar displays across America, a free-speech advocacy group has argued.
Despite the Oklahoma high court’s ruling, Gov. Mary Fallin said a six-foot, granite Ten Commandments monument will remain at the capitol while Attorney General Scott Pruitt files an appeal and state legislators consider a measure to let Oklahoma residents vote on striking an amendment from the state constitution cited by justices as rationale for ordering the commandments removed. The American Center for Law and Justice warned in a news release that at least 36 other states have adopted similar constitutional amendments and could be liable to lawsuits challenging their Ten Commandments’ displays.
In the past decade the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed some Ten Commandments displays on government property while prohibiting others. In separate 2005 rulings, for example, the court permitted a six-foot Ten Commandments monument at the Texas capitol but ruled framed copies of the Ten Commandments at two Kentucky courthouses were unconstitutional.
In 2003, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was removed from office after refusing to comply with a federal judge’s order to remove a Ten Commandments display from the Alabama Judicial Building. He was elected chief justice for a second time in 2012.
(BP)
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