Missouri display of commandments protected by ruling

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Nearly 47 years to the day after the Missouri Fraternal Order of Eagles erected a Ten Commandments monument on the state Capitol grounds, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday issued a ruling that likely protects it from potential constitutional challenges.

In a 5-4 decision, the court held that a virtually identical monument at the Texas Capitol doesn't constitute a government endorsement of religion in violation of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.

The Missouri display has not been the subject of controversy. Had the court ruled the other way in the Texas case, however, the Missouri monument would have been vulnerable if some individual or group decided to file a lawsuit seeking its removal.

Jack English, a retired physician from the Carmel Valley region of California who was visiting the Missouri Capitol on Monday, said displaying the Ten Commandments on public property is appropriate and not necessarily an endorsement of Judeo-Christian faiths.

"It is the foundation of our civil law as well as our criminal law," English said. "In that regard, it is not specific to religion."

The 6-foot granite monument sits discretely off the side of a scenic overlook above the Missouri River on the Capitol grounds. The state Eagles club dedicated it on June 28, 1958.

The disputed Texas monument was provided by that state's Eagles organization in 1961. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Eagles donated numerous such markers for display at public buildings around the country.

John Boyd of Cape Girardeau, the immediate past president of the Missouri Fraternal Order of Eagles, said the outcome of the Texas case has been of great concern to Eagles' members across the state and nation. Boyd said he is relieved the court lifted the potential threat to the Missouri monument.

"If you can't abide by the Ten Commandments, what good are the laws we try to pass," Boyd said. "A majority of our members nationwide want those monuments left alone."

While pleased the outcome in the Texas case, Gov. Matt Blunt expressed disappointment with a companion decision also handed down Monday that declared Ten Commandments displays at two Kentucky courthouses unconstitutional. The court, in another 5-4 split, said that unlike the Texas monument the Kentucky displays are presented in overtly religious contexts and therefore violate the Establishment Clause.

"The Ten Commandments are an important part of Western civilization that public entities ought to be able to display as they choose," Blunt said.

mpowers@semissourian

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