Ten Commandment Rulings

For anyone interested in Supreme Court rulings on church/state separation, there have been two rulings on displays of the Ten Commandments. There was a case in Texas and one in Tennessee.  These are links to the actual rulings complete with all concurring and dissenting opinions.

The case in Texas was one that was found to be in conformity with the U.S. Constitution.  It was erected in 1961 as one of 18 monuments and had a more low key placement than the displays in Tennessee.  At least that was what motivated Justice Stephan Breyer to rule differently on the two cases.  He was the only one to do so. Some others have questioned this, wondering if his different rulings on the two cases would leave people guessing what was legal and what wasn't.

The two monuments erected in Tennessee were found to violate the establishment clause of the first amendment, that is they were incompatible with church/state separation.  I suspect that much of what motivated the different ruling on the part of Justice Breyer was that in the case of the monument in Texas, it had been there roughly twenty years before anyone was offended enough to seek remedy in the courts.  I think they should have found all of them unconstitutional, so that people would have a very clear idea that church/state separation will be upheld.