Kentucky commandments backers plan appeal optimistic of new Supreme Court

Two Kentucky counties that narrowly lost a battle before the U.S. Supreme Court five years ago to put up a display with the Ten Commandments in their courthouses are planning a new appeal to the nation's top court, hoping its new, more conservative makeup will help them win this time.

The plan comes after appeals courts allowed a similar display in two other Kentucky counties, and the American Civil Liberties Union declined to appeal those rulings to the high court.

ACLU lawyer William Sharp confirmed his group would not be appealing a ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year that allowed a display that included the Ten Commandments to be reinstated in Grayson County in Western Kentucky.

Sharp declined to state the reason, saying “that's a matter that would remain between us and the client.”

But his opposing lawyer, Mathew Staver of the Virginia-based Liberty Counsel, was quick to offer an explanation for why he thinks the ACLU isn't appealing — and for why his group plans to appeal the separate 2005 case involving McCreary and Pulaski counties.

“They're counting votes as 5-4 against them,” he said. “It's pretty clear to everyone” that the Supreme Court has shifted with the more conservative Justice Samuel Alito replacing Sandra Day O'Connor.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100817/NEWS01/308170074/Kentucky+commandments+backers+plan+appeal+optimistic+of+new+Supreme+Court


They won't get a larger stamp of approval on their religious beliefs by the State unless one of our allies is stupid enough to appeal at this point in time.

actually cared about such things. They are the true activists overturning precedents.