ACLU of Indiana Challenges Governor's Plan on Ten...
ACLU of Indiana Challenges Governor Braun’s Plan to Place Ten Commandments Monument at Statehouse
- Past court rulings blocked Ten Commandments display at Indiana statehouse, citing violation of First Amendment.
- Governor cites Supreme Court decisions allowing such displays and claims monument reflects nation's heritage.
- ACLU argues government-endorsed religious message violates First Amendment, calls for court to block monument placement.
STATEWIDE–The ACLU of Indiana is challenging Governor Mike Braun’s renewed effort to place a Ten Commandments monument on the Indiana Statehouse lawn. On Monday, they filed a motion asking the U.S District Court for the Southern District of Indiana to allow an updated complaint in the long-running case. They say this decision is unconstitutional and it isn’t the first time something like this was attempted.
“In 2000, then-Governor Frank O’Bannon announced that the State would place a large limestone monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments on the south lawn of the Indiana Statehouse. The monument was never placed there because a federal court blocked the display, finding that it violated the First Amendment. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals later affirmed that decision, and the court entered a permanent injunction preventing the monument from being placed at the Statehouse,” said the ACLU in a Monday afternoon news release.
Since then, the monument has remained on a private church property in Bedford for more than two decades. The federal court, however, recently granted the Governor’s motion to reopen the case.
According to Braun’s motion, the Indiana Civil Liberties Union stipulated that placing the monument on statehouse grounds would have violated the Establishment Clause and precedent that was set in the Lemon v. Kurtzman case from 1971. Additionally, the motion cited a rule codified in federal law permitting the court to remove existing injunctions when they no longer support the laws as they change or are updated.
The motion said that the Supreme Court’s initial decision should no longer apply, referencing recent decisions made by the high court. These included a decision to allow the Ten Commandments to be displayed at the Texas Capitol and other examples.
“This monument reflects foundational texts that have shaped our Nation’s laws, liberties and civic life for generations. Given the clear shift in constitutional law and the long history of similar displays across the country, we ask the court to lift this outdated injunction. Restoring this historical monument is about honoring our heritage and who we are as Hoosiers,” Braun previously stated.
Legal Director at the ACLU of Indiana Ken Falk says when the State puts text like this on the lawn, it becomes a “government-endorsed message about religion, and the First Amendment does not allow the State to send that message.”
Falk is calling for the court to block the State from putting the Ten Commandments monument on the lawn. The monument in question was donated by the Indiana Limestone Institute.
