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COURT REPORTER
NO ROOM FOR MOSES? [by James Kilpatrick] Is there any room for Moses in an American courthouse? Or must the old lawgiver of Exodus 20 be forever banished into outer darkness?
Turning to the facts of the case, Judge Batch-
The Supreme Court may give us a hint after it
find a portrait of Abraham Lincoln and a
hears argument in two cases presenting the
depiction of Ohio’s seal with the state motto:
elder observed that the offending poster is
same tough question: Is it constitutionally
“With God All Things Are Possible.” In a
a far cry from the granite monuments that
permissible for an agency of government,
lobby just outside the courtroom, visitors
have triggered other cases. “The text is so
such as a public park or a county courthouse,
may inspect a display of 29 reproductions of
small that it cannot be read from the jury
to display the Ten Commandments?
historical documents.
box, the witness stand, or the bench.”
On this issue, the lower federal courts are
The American Civil Liberties Union got wind
sharply divided. In Van Orden v. Perry, the 5th
of the judge’s artwork. Somehow it enlisted
The ACLU had complained that DeWeese
Circuit said yes, it’s OK. In McCreary County
the services of an Ohio lawyer, Bernard
did not have a “purely secular purpose” in
v. ACLU, the 6th Circuit said no, it’s not. The
Davis, who “from time to time” practices law
hanging the Mosaic text. Judge Batchelder
two cases will be argued before the high
in Judge DeWeese’s courtroom. There he
dismissed the objection: “It is patently un-
court on March 2. A third case, DeWeese v.
is forced to come into “direct, unwelcome
necessary for DeWeese to have had a purely
ACLU, involves a courthouse in southwestern
contact with the Ten Commandments dis-
secular purpose. He merely needed not to
Ohio. It is actively pending on a petition for
play.” This obnoxious experience so offended
have a purely religious purpose.” There was
review -- and it raises a question of “stand-
his sensibilities that he fled for relief to the
nothing in the record to suggest that the
ing” that deserves attention.
ACLU (or the ACLU fled to him). He executed
county judge was attempting “to instruct
an affidavit attesting the unbearable damage
individuals that our legal system is based
he must endure.
on moral absolutes from divine law handed
The Van Orden case involves a massive stone
down by God through the Ten Command-
monument, engraved with the Troublesome
ments.”
Ten, that stands on a walkway adjoining the
No other affidavits or depositions appear
Texas state capitol. A panel of the 5th Circuit
in the Supreme Court record. No other
found that the monument did not violate the
members of the ACLU are named. No one
Judge DeWeese had protested that he was
First Amendment. In the case from Mc-
testified. District Judge Kathleen McDonald
not proselytizing anyone. He thought the
Creary County, Ky., a panel of the 6th Circuit
O’Malley simply granted summary judgment
framed commandments might foster debate
condemned a courthouse display of a framed
to the ACLU. Last July a panel of the 6th Cir-
“between the philosophical position of moral
copy of the Ten Commandments. The high
cuit summarily affirmed. U.S. District Judge
absolutism (as set forth in the Ten Com-
court’s opinion in this case will be based
Joseph M. Hood, sitting by designation in the
mandments) and moral relativism in order
upon an almost identical set of facts in the
6th Circuit, brushed aside the county judge’s
to address what he perceives to be a moral
DeWeese case from Richland County, Ohio.
defense as “contrived at best.” The Bill of
crisis in this country.” Such a purpose, said
Rights poster “does nothing to negate the en-
Judge Hood, violates the Establishment
The facts in the pending case from Ohio are
dorsement effect of the Ten Commandments
Clause.
not in dispute. In July 2000, James DeWeese,
poster.”
judge of the County Court of Common Pleas,
Judge Batchelder had the last word: “A great
posted a framed copy of the Ten Command-
Circuit Judge Alice M. Batchelder filed a
many state educational institutions will be
ments on a side wall of his courtroom in
powerful dissenting opinion. She began by
shocked, I suspect, to learn that fostering
Mansfield. Across from Moses he hung a
questioning the role of the ACLU’s paper
debate between philosophical positions is
similarly framed copy of the Bill of Rights.
plaintiff. His alleged “injury,” in her view, was
now unconstitutional in the 6th Circuit.”
Elsewhere in the courtroom, visitors could
not sufficient to give him standing to sue.
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