Liberty Counsel
NEWS RELEASE
Contact:
PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT - 800-671-1776
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May
16, 2005
Eleven
Out Of Eleven Judges Surveyed Agree That The Ten Commandments Are OK
Chicago,
IL – All eleven judges of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, after
being polled, voted to not rehear the Ten Commandments decision of Books
v. Elkhart County, Indiana. On March 25, 2005, a three-judge panel of the
Seventh Circuit issued an opinion upholding the Ten Commandments as part
of a display known as the Foundations of American Law and Government. Elkhart
County is represented by Mathew D. Staver, President and General Counsel
of Liberty Counsel, who argued before the United States Supreme Court on
March 2, 2005, in defense of an identical Ten Commandments display posted
in two Kentucky courthouses.
After
Elkhart County posted the Foundations of American Law and Government display,
the ACLU filed suit. The federal district court, in 2004, ruled that the
display was unconstitutional. Liberty Counsel argued in defense of the display
before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals last year following the Supreme
Court’s decision to review the Ten Commandments displays in Kentucky
and Texas. The display in Elkhart County, Indiana, is identical to the Kentucky
displays in McCreary and Pulaski Counties. After Mr. Staver argued the Kentucky
Ten Commandments case on March 2, 2005, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
issued an opinion upholding the Elkhart County Ten Commandments display.
The ACLU then asked the full panel of eleven judges to rehear the case.
In denying this request, the court issued an opinion that stated, “No
judge in active service has requested a vote on the petition for rehearing
en banc, and all of the judges on the original panel have voted to deny
rehearing. It is therefore ordered that the petition for rehearing, with
suggestion for rehearing en banc, is DENIED.”
A decision
on the Ten Commandments case argued before the Supreme Court on March 2
is expected anytime between now and the end of June when the Court’s
term ends.
Commenting
on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals’ recent decision, Staver said:
“I’m pleased that all of the judges on the court of appeals
agreed to let the decision regarding the Ten Commandments stand. This ruling
has cleared the way to display the Ten Commandments in Elkhart County. I
have advised the Elkhart County officials that they can now repost the display.
Displaying the Ten Commandments is a permissible accommodation and acknowledgment
of religion and its role in our society. Posting the Ten Commandments in
public places is a permissible acknowledgment, rather than an establishment,
of religion.”
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