Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/18pdf/17-1717_4f14.pdf
Page Number: 24.0

Cite as:  588 U. S. ____ (2019) 

17 

Opinion of the Court 

fact, there was no way to be certain about the motivations 
of  the  men  who  were  responsible  for  the  creation  of  the 
monument.    And  this  is  often  the  case  with  old  monu-
ments,  symbols,  and  practices.    Yet  it  would  be  inappro-
priate  for  courts  to  compel  their  removal  or  termination 
based on supposition. 
  Second, as time goes by, the purposes associated with an 
established monument, symbol, or practice often multiply.  
Take the example of Ten Commandments monuments, the 
subject  we  addressed  in  Van  Orden,  545  U. S.  677,  and 
McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union of Ky., 
545  U. S.  844 (2005).    For  believing  Jews  and  Christians, 
the  Ten  Commandments  are  the  word  of  God  handed 
down to Moses on  Mount  Sinai,  but the  image  of  the  Ten 
Commandments has also been used to convey other mean-
ings.  They have historical significance as one of the foun-
dations  of  our  legal  system,  and  for  largely  that  reason, 
they  are  depicted  in  the  marble  frieze  in  our  courtroom 
and  in  other  prominent  public  buildings  in  our  Nation’s 
capital.  See Van Orden, supra, at 688–690.  In Van Orden 
and McCreary, no Member of the Court thought that these 
depictions are unconstitutional.  545 U. S., at 688–690; id., 
at  701  (opinion  of  BREYER,  J.);  id.,  at  740  (Souter,  J., 
dissenting). 
  Just  as  depictions  of  the  Ten  Commandments  in  these 
public  buildings  were  intended  to  serve  secular  purposes, 
the  litigation  in  Van  Orden  and  McCreary  showed  that 
secular  motivations  played  a  part  in  the  proliferation  of 
Ten  Commandments  monuments  in  the  1950s.    In  1946, 
Minnesota  Judge  E.  J.  Ruegemer  proposed  that  the  Ten 
Commandments be widely disseminated as a way of com-
bating  juvenile  delinquency.17    With  this  prompting,  the 

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17 See  Bravin,  When  Moses’  Laws  Run  Afoul  of  the  U. S.’s,  Get  Me 
Cecil B. deMille—Ten Commandment Memorial Has Novel Defense in 
Suit, Wall Street Journal, Apr. 18, 2001, p. A1.