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Constitutional Law Keyed to Choper
McCreary County v. ACLU
Citation:
545 U.S. 844 (2005)Facts
In 1999, McCreary and Pulaski Counties in Kentucky placed large, gold-framed copies of the Ten Commandments in prominent locations in their courthouses. The displays consisted solely of the text of the Ten Commandments with a citation to Exodus. In Pulaski County, the display was accompanied by a ceremony where the County Judge-Executive called the Commandments “good rules to live by” and was joined by his pastor who described them as “a creed of ethics.” After the ACLU filed suit challenging the constitutionality of the displays, both counties quickly adopted resolutions calling for expanded displays. These second displays included the Ten Commandments along with eight smaller framed documents containing religious references, such as the “endowed by their Creator” passage from the Declaration of Independence and excerpts proclaiming the Year of the Bible. After the District Court enjoined these displays, the counties installed a third version titled “The Foundations of American Law and Government Display,” which included the Ten Commandments alongside secular documents like the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights. Each document had an accompanying explanation of its historical significance, with the Ten Commandments described as having “profoundly influenced the formation of Western legal thought and the formation of our country.”
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