3 judges order Ten Commandments displays taken down
By The Associated Press
02.23.02
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JASPER, Tenn. — Three judges this week ordered two postings of the Ten Commandments removed from the courtroom.
On Feb. 20, Circuit Court Judge Thomas "Rusty" Graham and two other judges had the framed copies of the religious codes removed just hours after they were posted, citing violations of state and federal constitutions, court officials said.
A resolution was approved by the Marion County Commission three months ago to post the commandments.
One judge opted to keep them up. The posting hangs next to the U.S. flag and state seal inside General Sessions Court Judge J. Clifford Layne's courtroom.
Layne said he's leaving the document in his courtroom until an Alabama Supreme Court case is settled. That case deals with hanging copies of the Ten Commandments in Alabama courtrooms and "is directly on point" with what's being disputed in Marion County, Layne said.
"I'm not taking (the posting) down until I am ordered to do so by a higher court," he said. "If I am ordered to take it down, I would appeal that decision until the case in Alabama is heard and finalized."
County Commissioner Doug FitzGerald said he and other commissioners did not know the documents already had been posted.
"I wasn't aware they were going up inside the courtrooms. I just thought they'd be hung in the entrance way," FitzGerald said. "If the judges don't want them in their courtrooms, they have the authority to take them down."
Sue Allison, spokeswoman for the Administrative Office of the Courts in Nashville, said the law "is clear on the subject," and religious doctrines should not be posted in public buildings.
Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Tennessee, said it's not necessary for judges in the state to hinge their decisions on what's happening in Alabama.
"A case pending in Alabama doesn't have anything to do with a General Sessions judge in Marion County," she said. "By resolving to post the Ten Commandments, the county commission violated the First Amendment and state constitution. I hope those commissioners recognize the importance of religious freedom and will vow to protect those freedoms under the Constitution."
Counties across the state have voted to post the commandments. They include Gibson, Shelby, Benton and Madison in West Tennessee and Hamilton, Johnson, Sequatchie and Greene in East Tennessee.
The ACLU sued last month against such displays in a Hamilton County case.
Jasper is 18 miles west of Chattanooga.
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