ACLU threatens lawsuit over Giles County decision on Ten Commandments
This shouldn’t surprise anyone: The Virginia arm of the American Civil Liberties Union objects to the Giles County School Board’s decision to post the Ten Commandments, and says it’s preparing for “possible litigation.”
Here’s a link to the news coverage today — to our previous blog post on the subject (which has gotten some chatter) — and to a separate post over on our New River Valley community news blog (which is getting its own chatter).
And, finally, here’s the ACLU release:
ACLU Says Giles County School Board’s Decision to
Post Ten Commandments Violates Religious Liberty
Civil liberties group preparing for possible litigation if government
officials refuse to reverse decision to post Ten Commandments in local schools.
Giles County, VA – January 21, 2011 – The ACLU of Virginia today objected to a decision by the Giles County School Board to re-post the Ten Commandments in public schools, and says it will consider legal action.
“This action flies in the face of both strong legal precedents and our fundamental notions of what religious equality means in the United States,” said ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis.
“When the government promotes one faith, whether it is through the Ten Commandments or other religious documents,” added Willis, “it automatically diminishes all other faiths. Religious equality is an empty principle if something as powerful and influential as a school board is allowed to impose its religious views on the students who attend the schools under its jurisdiction.”
For at least the last ten years, large framed versions of the Ten Commandments hung in all five Giles County public schools, next to a copy of the Constitution. After the Freedom from Religion Foundation in Wisconsin complained last month that the documents violated the First Amendment’s mandate for separation of church and state, the copies of the Ten Commandments were removed and replaced with copies of the Declaration of Independence.
But yesterday, at a meeting attended by more than 200 county residents who objected to the removal of the Ten Commandments, the school board voted unanimously to put them on the school walls.
In doing so, the school board ignored not only clear U.S. Supreme Court precedents but also acted against the advice of its attorney and the school superintendent’s earlier decision to remove the Ten Commandments.
“After government officials hear from organizations like the ACLU,” said Willis “they typically consult with their own attorneys. When legal advisors on their own payroll support our position, that solves the problem then and there. What is unusual about this situation is that Giles County School Board members are ignoring advice from their own attorney.”
Willis added: “There are some circumstances in which the Ten Commandments may be temporarily displayed in a public school, such as when they are part of a large exhibit about the development of laws and mores throughout history. But that is not the case here.”
January 21, 2011 - 3:40 PM
The lawyer for the school district informed the school board that their actions are unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has ruled on this issue already. It is the duty of elected officials to comply with the law. It is foolish of them to risk school resources over a lawsuit.
ACLU should work to promote the idea that lawsuits that are brought in response to activity that is obviously illegal with previous Supreme Court precedent should be subject to the defendant(s) having to pay the legal costs of the plaintiff if the defendant loses. Public officials and their constituents should be punished monetarily when they flout the laws.
The hypocracy of the american government/judicial system is beyond belief! So the almighty US Government is coming down on a small county in Virginia for displaying the Ten Commandments on which this country was founded, meanwhile a US District Court judge has just recently passed a ruling for the US Government to fund commercial enterprises that promote the indoctrination of Islamic Shariah Law! Can somebody please tell me what is going on in this country?? I suppose the fact that our president, whom has no record of being born in our country,(which is a pre-requisette of being the commander in chief) is of little matter to the almighty US Government! Oh yeah, and since his father was a British citizen that also disqualifies Mr. Obamna from being president due to the dual citizenship clause! In short, I suppose only certain criteria of the US Constitution is to be upheld. Just the progressive lie of Seperation of Church and State. Guess it really comes down to Christian bashing like always!
@Jared French – “meanwhile a US District Court judge has just recently passed a ruling for the US Government to fund commercial enterprises that promote the indoctrination of Islamic Shariah Law!”
Sources please? And please provide and actual case ruling, not a clip from Beck, Hannity, O’Reilly, or Limbaugh.
If what you say is true, and I highly doubt it is, then the judge needs to be removed immediately! He too would be in violation of the Constitution!
“I suppose the fact that our president, whom has no record of being born in our country,(which is a pre-requisette of being the commander in chief) is of little matter to the almighty US Government! ”
You’re wrong, get over it. Educate yourself, please.
“Just the progressive lie of Seperation of Church and State.”
If it’s “progressive lie”, then why has the SCOTUS, which is predominately conservative, upheld it all these years? You may also be interested to learn that the founders of this nation were considered the “progressives” of their time.
“Guess it really comes down to Christian bashing like always!”
No. Just standing up for the US Constitution and people of all faith, not JUST Christianity.
You are mistaken if you think that the Supreme Court is “conservative.” With regard to the First Amendment, the Court chose in 1947 to re-intepret the Constitution in a way inconsistent with custom or law and it has built on this rupture with the past. As for this particular case. Let the ACLU sue. They cannot be sure that the Court will rule against the school system in this way since the intent is to display historical documents. Furthermore the ACLU is hardly a consensus organization. They are Jacobins who would suppress all expressions of Christianity in the schools in the name of “neutrality” that is in fact animosity. But really the best way for the people to oppose this is to remove their children from the public schools and thereby deny these schools the funding their need for operation.
@John Schuh:
SCOTUS not conservative? Um, yeah, sure.
“Court Under Roberts Is Most Conservative in Decades”
“Four of the six most conservative justices of the 44 who have sat on the court since 1937 are serving now: Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Alito, Antonin Scalia and, most conservative of all, Clarence Thomas. (The other two were Chief Justices Burger and Rehnquist.) Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the swing justice on the current court, is in the top 10.
The Roberts court is finding laws unconstitutional and reversing precedent — two measures of activism — no more often than earlier courts. But the ideological direction of the court’s activism has undergone a marked change toward conservative results.
Until she retired in 2006, Justice O’Connor was very often the court’s swing vote, and in her later years she had drifted to the center-left. These days, Justice Kennedy has assumed that crucial role at the court’s center, moving the court to the right.”
-NYT
By ADAM Liptak
Published: July 24, 2010
But, of course, don’t let pesky things like FACTS get in the way of your thinking.
#6 Problem is, BK, it’s hard to rile up those ideological right wingers with a cry of, “The Supreme Court is about as conservative as it’s been in decades so the only “activism” in toward the right. We’re dong pretty well in that regard now.”
Here’s one more piece of fat to chew on folks:
In all this time, I have never read a US history book that mentions the TC as one of this nations founding documents. In fact, I don’t recall any of our standard founding documents being at all religious in nature.
Now, I’m sure there is likely some revisionist propaganda out there that has attempted to make this claim; however, it doesn’t make it true.
The TC is, has, and will always be a religious text. It is not in any way a document whose historical nature is rooted in the founding of this country. Therefore, it’s place belongs in the home, the church, and the hearts of those who believe.
Nobody is attempting to thwart your beliefs. You are free to choose, just as I am. But there is a reason why the SCOTUS has repeatedly ruled the way they have on this subject. And when you cross the threshold of allowing an elected body, such as the GCSB, to post a religious text in a public building, then they are indeed endorsing/establishing a particular religion.
Now, if Giles wants to post similar texts from every known religion, then the historical document argument holds water. Whether you like it or not, all of them have a place in our cultural melting pot and are part of the fabric of our nation.
As for the ACLU, I certainly don’t subscribe to their way of thinking on everything, but in this case they are spot on. You may see it as infringing on Christian beliefs, and since the majority of Giles is Christian, then it’s fine.
What they see is that the minority is being infringed upon. By allowing a precedent to be established in Giles, it opens the doors for other places to do the same. Doing so tears the heart out of the First Amendment, which means all religion, speech, protest, etc. would be jeopardized.
There are over 22,000 sects of Christianity in the US alone. Do you really want to win this battle, only to start the war over who’s version is the right one and will be displayed? Do you really want to open the door to your child having to hear, watch, respect and accept the religious practices of a Scientologist, Buddhist, or Muslim child while at school, even though it is in direct conflict with what they believe?
This is the can of worms you are opening, so you better be sure.