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Constitutional Law Keyed to Maggs
McCreary County, Kentucky v. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky
Citation:
545 U.S. 844 (2005)Facts
In 1999, two counties in Kentucky put up in their courthouses large, gold-framed copies of an abridged text of the King James version of the Ten Commandments. After lawsuits were filed to challenge the displays under the Establishment Clause, the legislative body of each County authorized a second, expanded display, by nearly identical resolutions reciting that the Ten Commandments are the precedent legal code upon which the civil and criminal codes of Kentucky are founded. The Counties expanded the displays of the Ten Commandments in their locations to include eight other documents in smaller frames, each either having a religious theme or excerpted to highlight a religious element.
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