CARNES, Circuit Judge:
The Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court installed a two-and-one half
ton monument to the Ten Commandments as the centerpiece of the rotunda in
the Alabama State Judicial Building. He did so in order to remind all Alabama
citizens of, among other things, his belief in the sovereignty of the Judeo-Christian
God over both the state and the church. And he rejected a request to permit a
monument displaying a historically significant speech in the same space on the
grounds that “[t]he placement of a speech of any man alongside the revealed law of
God would tend in consequence to diminish the very purpose of the Ten
Commandments monument.” Glassroth v. Moore, 229 F. Supp. 2d 1290, 1297
(M.D. Ala. 2002).
The monument and its placement in the rotunda create the impression of
being in the presence of something holy and sacred, causing some building
employees and visitors to consider the monument an appropriate and inviting place
for prayer.
<snip>
During the trial the Chief Justice testified candidly about why he had placed
the monument in the rotunda. The following exchanges between him and one of
the plaintiffs’ attorneys establish that purpose:
Q [W]as your purpose in putting the Ten Commandments
monument in the Supreme Court rotunda to acknowledge GOD’s law
and GOD’s sovereignty? . . .
A Yes.
1st Supp. Rec. V ol. 2 at 100.
Q . . . Do you agree th at the monument, the Ten Commandments
monument, reflects the sovereignty of GOD over the affairs of men?
A Yes.
Q And the monument is also intended to acknowledge
GOD’s overruling power over the affairs of men, would that be
correct? . . .
A Yes.
Q . . . [W]hen you say “GOD” you mean GOD of the Holy
Scripture?
A Yes.
1st Supp. Rec. V ol. 3 at 34.