Federal judge allows case involving Ten Commandments display to advance
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Urbanski yesterday denied a motion to dismiss the ACLU of Virginia and Freedom from Religion Foundation’s case challenging the posting of the Ten Commandments at Narrows High School in Giles County.
“We’re pleased that the court has allowed us to move forward with our case,” said ACLU of Virginia Legal Director Rebecca Glenberg. “We intend to show that the School Board cannot simply shroud its religious purpose for posting the Ten Commandments by surrounding it with historical documents.”
The court also heard arguments in the plaintiffs’ motion to proceed using pseudonyms. The ACLU and FFRF argue that the use of pseudonyms protects the plaintiffs from the vitriol of community members who support the Ten Commandments display. Judge Urbanski asked counsel to work out an agreement that would provide safeguards to protect the plaintiffs, and said he would enter a protective order himself if the parties could not agree.
“The community has already shown significant animosity toward our clients,” added Glenberg. “We have no doubt that if their identities were revealed that they would be the targets of more direct harassment.”
The controversy began in late 2010, when the Freedom from Religion Foundation received complaints about the posting of the Ten Commandments with the Constitution in Giles County public schools, a practice that had been in place for years. Over the next six months a dispute ensued in which the Ten Commandments were removed, reposted, then removed again, and ultimately posted in a display with historical documents relating to American history, such as the Declaration of Independence, the Star-Spangled Banner, and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.
The ACLU and FFRF filed suit on September 13, 2011 on behalf of a student and the student’s parent arguing that the display amounts to government endorsement of religion and therefore violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
The Ten Commandments are posted on a main hallway at the high school, near the trophy case and on the way to the cafeteria, where it is seen by students every day.
Court to hear arguments in challenge to Ten Commandments display
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Urbanski will hear arguments on Monday, Nov. 28, in the ACLU of Virginia and Freedom from Religion Foundation’s challenge to the posting of the Ten Commandments at Narrows High School in Giles County.
The court will consider arguments in the defendant’s motion to dismiss the case and plaintiffs’ motion to proceed using pseudonyms.
The ACLU and FFRF argue that the use of pseudonyms protects the plaintiffs from the vitriol of community members who support the School Board’s decision to have the display.
“The community has already expressed considerable animus toward these plaintiffs,” said ACLU of Virginia Legal Director Rebecca Glenberg. “If their identities are revealed, there is no doubt they will become the targets of much more direct harassment.”
The controversy began in late 2010, when the Freedom from Religion Foundation received complaints about the posting of the Ten Commandments in Giles County public schools, a practice that had been in place for years. Over the next six months a dispute ensued in which the Ten Commandments were removed, reposted, then removed again, and ultimately posted in a display with historical documents relating to American history, such as the Declaration of Independence, the Star-Spangled Banner, and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.
The ACLU of Virginia and the Freedom from Religion Foundation filed suit on Sept. 13, on behalf of a student and the student’s parent arguing that the display amounts to government endorsement of religion and therefore violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
The Ten Commandments are posted on a main hallway at the high school, near the trophy case and on the way to the cafeteria, where it is seen by students every day.
Groups threaten suit if Giles County reposts Ten Commandments in schools
The ACLU of Virginia and the Freedom From Religion Foundation today warned the Giles County School Board not to follow through with a proposal to mount displays featuring the Ten Commandments and several historical documents in public schools. The two religious rights groups say they intend to file a lawsuit challenging the displays if they are authorized by the school board.
“The Ten Commandments were clearly placed in Giles County public schools to promote religion, and that violates the First Amendment of the Constitution,” said ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis. “School board members can’t now camouflage their religious purpose by hiding the Ten Commandments among other documents.”
According to recent news reports, the school board is voting on June 7 on whether to post in all schools displays that would include the Ten Commandments, the Bill of Rights, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Mayflower Compact, the Magna Carta, Lady Justice, and the National Anthem.
For years, Giles County schools posted side-by-side copies of the Ten Commandments and the U.S. Constitution, but after complaints from the Freedom From Religion Foundation last fall, the school superintendent ordered them taken down. The school board, however, in a meeting attended by 200 residents urging restoration of the display, voted to overturn the superintendent’s decision. Only after the ACLU and the Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened litigation did the school board reverse itself and order the Ten Commandments taken down again.
In the letter emailed this morning, ACLU of Virginia Legal Director Rebecca Glenberg and Freedom From Religion Foundation Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott note that the Ten Commandments has sometimes been allowed in public buildings when it is part of a secular display. However, the courts have made it clear that when such displays have a religious purpose, they are unconstitutional. The courts have been especially sensitive to such displays in public schools, where government promotion of religion is most strictly prohibited.
ACLU: Giles County posting of Ten Commandments is violation
The ACLU of Virginia on Friday 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.”
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
