ACLU of Kentucky

Also see:

ACLU of Kentucky, Lee and Durham v. Pulaski County

Supreme Court of the United States / United States District Court

These two consolidated suits are our first set of challenges to Ten Commandments postings in Kentucky courthouses. The ACLU of Kentucky, on behalf of its members in Pulaski and McCreary counties and residents of each county, has argued since 1999 that the displays’ purpose and effect are to endorse religion, in violation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause.

In the lawsuits’ early stages, the defendants enacted statements of “purpose,” claiming that the displays were meant to teach the historical lesson about Christians’ role in the nation’s founding. To further this “secular” purpose, the defendants surrounded the Ten Commandments with six unrelated statements about religion. U.S. District Judge Jennifer B. Coffman held that the modified displays likely were unconstitutional and issued preliminary injunctions prohibiting them. The defendants removed their displays, initially appealed the injunction and then, after obtaining new counsel, dropped their appeals.

Several months after removing the displays, the defendants posted new Ten Commandments displays. These displays of “historical documents” contained American (and earlier Colonial and British) political and patriotic documents and the Ten Commandments. Judge Coffman held that these displays too likely were unconstitutional, because the displays’ history showed that the defendants’ purposes were religious, not secular, and because the displays’ effect was to endorse religion. The judge therefore enjoined this third incarnation of the Ten Commandments displays and the defendants appealed that preliminary injunction.

The federal appeals court and U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Judge Coffman’s preliminary injunction prohibiting the latest display.  Both cases now have returned to the trial court for further proceedings.  We are nearing the end of trial court litigation and anticipate asking Judge Coffman for final orders barring both the second and third Ten Commandments displays.