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On The Front Lines

Rutherford Institute Assists Arkansas District Judge in Defending Constitutional Display of Ten Commandments in Courtroom

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.--Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have responded to a request by an Arkansas judge for advice on how to constitutionally display the Ten Commandments on his courtroom wall.

In 1994, District Court Judge David Pake of Maumelle, Ark., a northwestern suburb of Little Rock, displayed a framed 11-by-14-inch copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall of his courtroom as a testament to the Decalogue's impact on Western law. From 1994 until August 2003, Judge Pake received no complaints regarding the Ten Commandments display on his wall. However, following Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore's highly publicized attempts to display a Ten Commandments monument in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building, the Arkansas American Civil Liberties Union voiced their objections to Judge Pake's small display. Insisting that the Ten Commandments display in Judge Pake's courtroom violates the Establishment Clause, the Arkansas ACLU demanded that it be removed. Desiring to maintain the display on his courtroom wall in a manner compliant with the U.S. Constitution, Judge Pake turned to The Rutherford Institute for help. Institute attorneys advised Judge Pake that, in keeping with U.S. Supreme Court precedent, the Ten Commandments could be displayed so long as they were placed in a context with other historical documents. Upon the advice of Institute attorneys, Judge Pake has now incorporated into the courtroom display several other historical documents that have influenced Western law, including the Declaration of Independence, selections from the codes of Hammurabi and Justinian and quotes from British legal scholar Sir William Blackstone. Judge Pake intends to add the Magna Carta and Bill of Rights to the display.

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for Constitutional guidelines for displaying religious documents like the Ten Commandments on public property.

"The Ten Commandments are undeniably one of the foundations on which our legal system is based," said John W. Whitehead, president and founder of The Rutherford Institute. "Their display in a context that emphasizes their historical role has been clearly endorsed by the U.S. Supreme Court, both in its decisions and in the decision to include the Ten Commandments in the frieze in the Supreme Court chamber itself."

The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.




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Nisha N. Mohammed
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Email: Nisha N. Mohammed

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