Opinion ID: 787961
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: other circuit court cases

Text: 65 Several other Courts of Appeal have recently considered the issue of whether displays of the Ten Commandments on government property violate the Establishment Clause. At least two of these decisions, from the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits, support our holding here. In Van Orden v. Perry, 351 F.3d 173 (5th Cir.2003), the Fifth Circuit held that a Ten Commandments monument on Texas state capitol grounds did not endorse religion where the capitol grounds contained many monuments and displays pertaining to the history of Texas. These displays included, for example, an Aztec religious symbol, a Confederate plaque, a plaque commemorating the war with Mexico, and a tribute to African American legislators. The Court held that the Ten Commandments monument did not have a primary effect of advancing or inhibiting religion, as seen from the eyes of a reasonable observer, because the grounds were designated as a National Historical Landmark and contained seventeen monuments depicting symbols of Texan identity. Id. at 175-76. In addition, the monument's location between the Texas Supreme Court building and the capitol building was chosen to reflect the Commandments' role in the making of law. Id. at 181. 66 Similarly, in King v. Richmond County, the Eleventh Circuit held that a superior court's official seal depicting two tablets representing the Ten Commandments did not send a message of endorsement because of various contextual factors surrounding the seal's appearance and use. 331 F.3d at 1286. These included the fact that the seal had been used by the court for over 130 years for secular, legal documentation purposes. Other relevant contextual factors included the seal's relatively small size, the absence of text on the tablets (although they did contain Roman numerals I through X, clearly representing the Commandments), and the fact that the seal depicted a sword (a symbol of secular law) intertwined with the tablets. Id. at 1283-84. Thus, this decision supports our standpoint that the overall context of a basically religious depiction can affect whether a reasonable observer perceives the display as endorsing religion. 67 Other Circuits have held that postings of the Ten Commandments violate the Establishment Clause. However, each of these decisions is distinguishable from the instant case and is, therefore, neither persuasive nor apposite. In ACLU of Ohio Foundation, Inc. v. Ashbrook, 375 F.3d 484 (6th Cir.2004), the Sixth Circuit held that an Ohio Common Pleas Court judge violated the Establishment Clause by displaying a framed poster of the Ten Commandments, which he created himself on his computer, in his courtroom across from a similarly styled framed poster of the Bill of Rights, which he also created. This case is distinguishable from the instant case as it involves a new display rather than an historical artifact. 68 In another distinguishable case, ACLU of Kentucky v. McCreary County, 354 F.3d 438 (6th Cir.2003), the Sixth Circuit held that a courthouse's posting of the Ten Commandments, hung in a museum-like setting with other postings designed to display the foundations of American law, violated the Establishment Clause. The Court held that, despite the secular context, the text of the Ten Commandments sent the message of endorsing religion because the county did not make clear in the display that it was attempting to create an exhibit concerning the origins of law. Id. at 448-49. Again, however, this was a new display, not an historical monument and, therefore, this decision has no persuasive effect on our holding here. 69 In Adland v. Russ, 307 F.3d 471 (6th Cir.2002), cert. denied, 538 U.S. 999, 123 S.Ct. 1909, 155 L.Ed.2d 826 (2003), the Sixth Circuit held that a monument displaying a nonsectarian version of the Ten Commandments, donated in 1971 but moved to storage in 1980, could not be placed on the state capitol grounds. Once again, this case involved a new placement, not a refusal to remove a longstanding plaque. Additionally, the proposed display in Adland would have been in a prominent location on state capitol grounds, unlike the Allegheny Plaque, which hangs discretely on the side of the courthouse. Books v. City of Elkhart, 235 F.3d 292 (7th Cir.2000), cert. denied, 532 U.S. 1058, 121 S.Ct. 2209, 149 L.Ed.2d 1036 (2001), involved a monument similar to that in Adland in that it also displayed a nonsectarian version of the Commandments and was placed on the lawn in front of a local municipal building. The Seventh Circuit found this display to violate the Establishment Clause, but this decision does not influence our holding here for the same reasons that Adland is unpersuasive. See also Ind. Civil Liberties Union v. O'Bannon, 259 F.3d 766 (7th Cir.2001), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 1162, 122 S.Ct. 1173, 152 L.Ed.2d 117 (2002) (following Elkhart and holding that the state's intention to erect a monument depicting the Ten Commandments on the park-like grounds of the statehouse would violate the Establishment Clause). 70 Finally, in ACLU Nebraska Foundation v. City of Plattsmouth, 358 F.3d 1020 (8th Cir.2004), the Eighth Circuit held that the city's display of a Ten Commandments monument in a public park since 1965 amounted to unconstitutional government endorsement. This case also addresses a relatively new monument, not an historical relic. Further, the Plattsmouth monument stands alone in a city park. It therefore lacks the kind of historical context that we believe makes the reasonable observer unlikely to perceive the Allegheny Plaque as an endorsement of religion. 5 71 The Eleventh Circuit also reiterated the importance of context in Glassroth v. Moore, 335 F.3d 1282 (11th Cir.2003), in which it held that a two-and-one-half ton monument of the Ten Commandments, placed in the rotunda of an Alabama State Courthouse by the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, violated the Establishment Clause. As with the cases above, this case involved a new and far more prominent display than the Allegheny Plaque. Further, the Eleventh Circuit distinguished Glassroth from its holding in King, a case much more factually similar to the instant case, stating that he constitutionality of a government's use of a predominantly religious symbol depends on the context in which it appears, and we concluded [in King ] that given the context in which the pictograph of the Ten Commandments appeared on the Seal, a reasonable observer would not believe that the Seal was an endorsement of religion. Id. at 1298-99 (internal citations omitted).