From
this Washington Times article.
"A U.S. district court under Judge Myron Thompson ruled against Chief Justice Moore on Nov. 18, 2002. On July 1, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled against Chief Justice Moore, saying displays on government property cannot promote or be affiliated with a religion."
The following display, on the East Pediment of the Supreme Court Building (government property), would seem to me to be affiliated with a religion.
inscription reads - "Justice, the guardian of liberty."
It not only depicts the Ten Commandments tablets it even shows the Jewish prophet Moses holding them. If my limited knowledge of Judaic and Christian Scripture serves me, Moses claimed that God made these tablets and gave them to Moses to be the law of His (God's) and Moses' people.
That ought to qualify it as affiliated with a religion. Two religions, in most people's minds. Does it fail to meet the definition of 'display' or does the Supreme Court Building fail to meet the definition of 'government property'? What is the exception here and who or what is the authority that governs that distinction? Is there a law that makes one Constitutional and the other not? Is it the ruling of a judge or judges that makes it so? But how can that be? This is a nation of laws not of men, right?
If the Thompson ruling stands on the criteria given above then the SC's Moses and Ten Commandments has to go too. So does the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.
"And ye shall make hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee."
This inscription, cast into the Liberty Bell in August 1752, is an excerpt from Leviticus 25:10.
Get out the chisels and fire up the forge, boys. It's time to give this country a facelift!
God, if I am allowed to invoke his name, I do wish we would stop giving the ACLU any more ideas.
Actually, Judge Moore is prostelytising by placing the monument in the Supreme Court rotunda. The Jehovah Witnesses would not be allowed to hand out their literature in the Supreme Court rotunda and therefore the monument does need to be moved. Judge Moore can have it in his office.
We tried to get in to the building when we were in Montgomery on Confederate Memorial day, but it was closed as that is a state holiday here in Alabama. Being a state employee I do appreciate all the holidays I can get. All you ever see of the monument on TV is the ten commandments. There are other inscriptions that I have not been able to see. Are there any sites that have pictures of all four sides?
Here is how the architect who designed the Eastern Pediment described it.
Law as an element of civilization was normally and naturally derived or inherited in this country from former civilizations. The ?Eastern Pediment? of the Supreme Court Building suggests therefore the treatment of such fundamental laws and precepts as are derived from the East. Moses, Confucius and Solon are chosen as representing three great civilizations and form the central group of this Pediment. Flanking this central group? left ? is the symbolical figure bearing the means of enforcing the law. On the right a group tempering justice with mercy, allegorically treated. The ?Youth? is brought into both these groups to suggest the ?Carrying on? of civilization through the knowledge imbibed of right and wrong. The next two figures with shields; Left ? The settlement of disputes between states through enlightened judgment. Right ? Maritime and other large functions of the Supreme Court in protection of the United States. The last figures: Left ? Study and pondering of judgments. Right ? A tribute to the fundamental and supreme character of this Court. Finale ? The fable of the Tortoise and the Hare. Architectural Details of the Supreme Court
There is a lot more going on then just a depiction of Moses and the Decalogue.
If Moore had made a general tableau of the history of the Law, then it would have been comparable to the Supreme Court's pediment.