Mccreary County, Kentucky, et al. v. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky et al. (545 U.S. 844)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 27, 2005 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 545 U.S. 844 · 125 S. Ct. 2722
- Decided
- June 27, 2005
- Term
- October Term 2004
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Souter
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
- Constitutional ruling
- Local ordinance held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Justice Souter delivered the opinion of the Court. Executives of two counties posted a version of the Ten Commandments on the walls of their courthouses. After suits were filed charging violations of the Establishment Clause, the legislative body of each county adopted a resolution calling for a more extensive exhibit meant to show that the Commandments are Kentucky’s “precedent legal code,” Def. Exh. 1 in Memorandum in Support of Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss in Civ. Action No. 99-507, p. 1 (ED Ky.) (hereinafter Def. Exh.. 1). The result in each instance was a modified display of the Commandments surrounded by texts containing religious references as their sole common element. After changing counsel, the counties revised the exhibits again by eliminating some documents, expanding the text set out in another, and adding some new ones. The issues are whether a determination of the counties’ purpose is a sound basis for ruling on the Establishment Clause complaints, and whether evaluation of the counties’ claim of secular purpose for the ultimate displays may take their evolution into account. We hold that the counties’ manifest objective may be dispositive of the constitutional enquiry, and that the development of the presentation should be considered when determining its purpose. I In the summer of 1999, petitioners McCreary County and Pulaski County, Kentucky (hereinafter…
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