I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3895
To defend the Ten Commandments.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 7, 2002
Mr. ADERHOLT (for himself, Mr. PITTS, Mr. BRYANT, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of
Texas, Mr. RYUN of Kansas, Mr. WICKER, Mr. SHOWS, Mr. HILLEARY,
Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. SCHAFFER, Mr. GOODE, Mr. TERRY, Mr. DEMINT,
Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. SMITH of Michigan, Mr. CRANE, Mr. HERGER, Mr.
BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. BROWN of South
Carolina, Mr. BUYER, Mr. ARMEY, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. DELAY,
Mr. CANTOR, Mr. PICKERING, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. GRAVES,
Mr. KERNS, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. WHITFIELD,
Ms. HART, Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina, Mr. WAMP, Mr. HAYES, Mr.
HAYWORTH, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. BONILLA, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr.
PAUL, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. ISTOOK, Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma,
Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. VITTER, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr.
HOSTETTLER, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. DOO-
LITTLE, Mr. PENCE, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. SHUSTER, and Mr.
BARR of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
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 2002’’.
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