I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2045
To defend the Ten Commandments. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 9, 2003
Mr. ADERHOLT (for himself, Mr. AKIN, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. BARTLETT of Mary-
land, Mr. BEAUPREZ, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. BONNER, Mr. BRADY of 
Texas, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. CANNON, Mr. 
CANTOR, Mr. CHOCOLA, Mr. CRANE, Mr. DELAY, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. 
DOOLITTLE, Mr. FEENEY, Mr. GOODE, Mr. GOODLATTE, Ms. HART, Mr. 
HAYES, 
Mr. 
HAYWORTH, 
Mr. 
HERGER, 
Mr. 
HOEKSTRA, 
Mr. 
HOSTETTLER, Mr. ISTOOK, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JONES of 
North Carolina, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. KLINE, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, 
Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mrs. 
MUSGRAVE, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. OTTER, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. PENCE, Mr. 
PITTS, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. RYUN of Kansas, Mr. SESSIONS, 
Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. STENHOLM, 
Mr. TERRY, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. VITTER, Mr. WAMP, Mr. 
WHITFIELD, Mr. WICKER, and Mr. WILSON of South Carolina) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary 
A BILL 
To defend the Ten Commandments.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ten Commandments 
Defense Act of 2003’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Declaration of Independence declares 
that governments are instituted to secure certain 
unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the 
pursuit of happiness, with which all human beings 
are endowed by their Creator and to which they are 
entitled by the laws of nature and of nature’s God. 
(2) The organic laws of the United States Code 
and the constitutions of every State, using various 
expressions, recognize God as the source of the 
blessings of liberty. 
(3) The First Amendment to the Constitution 
of the United States secures rights against laws re-
specting an establishment of religion or prohibiting 
the free exercise thereof made by the United States 
Government. 
(4) The rights secured under the first amend-
ment have been interpreted by courts of the United 
States Government to be included among the provi-
sions of the fourteenth amendment. 
(5) The tenth amendment reserves to the States 
respectively the powers not delegated to the United 
States Government nor prohibited to the States.
(6) Disputes and doubts have arisen with re-
spect to public displays of the Ten Commandments 
and to other public expression of religious faith. 
(7) Section 5 of the fourteenth amendment 
grants the Congress power to enforce the provisions 
of the said amendment. 
(8) Article I, section 8, grants the Congress 
power to constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme 
Court, and article III, section 1, grants the Congress 
power to ordain and establish courts in which the ju-
dicial power of the United States Government shall 
be vested. 
SEC. 3. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY RIGHTS DECLARED. 
(a) DISPLAY OF TEN COMMANDMENTS.—The power 
to display the Ten Commandments on or within property 
owned or administered by the several States or political 
subdivisions thereof is hereby declared to be among the 
powers reserved to the States respectively. 
(b) EXPRESSION OF RELIGIOUS FAITH.—The expres-
sion of religious faith by individual persons on or within 
property owned or administered by the several States or 
political subdivisions thereof is hereby—
(1) declared to be among the rights secured 
against laws respecting an establishment of religion 
or prohibiting the free exercise of religion made or
enforced by the United States Government or by any 
department or executive or judicial officer thereof; 
and 
(2) declared to be among the liberties of which 
no State shall deprive any person without due proc-
ess of law made in pursuance of powers reserved to 
the States respectively. 
(c) EXERCISE
OF JUDICIAL POWER.—The courts 
constituted, ordained, and established by the Congress 
shall exercise the judicial power in a manner consistent 
with the foregoing declarations.
Æ