[at-l] Monday Humor

[randerson58 at comcast.net (Richard H. Anderson)]

It seems to me that all the judges who have been involved in the litigation initiated and/or caused by former Judge Moore have properly decided the case.  You seem to be suggesting that the public display of the ten commandments on government property is a violation of the establishment clause of the first amendment.  The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide this question with a decision due on or before the end of the session which is June 2005.  However this is not a denial of anyone's rights to practice their religion.  "Interestingly, the Ten Commandments case the Supreme Court took is not the one that made national headlines. Indeed, the Supreme Court declined to review Judge Roy Moore's attempts to permanently install a two-ton granite rendition of the Commandments in "his" courthouse. It was a telling denial: By letting stand the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit's decision - which had vetoed the placement of the Ten Commandments -- the Court, in effect, sent a message that Moore's actions went beyond the pale. The [two] cases the Court did choose to consider, however, are closer ones." [quote from newspaper article posted on the internet].  Judge Moore unilaterally ordered the installation without any apparent authorization. The other judges of the same court agreed he exceeded his authority.

I suspect you which see a split 5-4 decision which respect to both ten commandment cases; in the one the ten commandment will be allowed to stay in place, in the other case, removal will be ordered; and one justice will be on both sides of the question. The real question will be whether or not the court will follow the election returns.  The third case involves a lifer who demands special meals to be prepared for him to meet the dietary restrictions imposed by the religion he adopted after he began serving his life sentence in 1980 but only recently articulated his grievances as a first amendment violation of the free exercise clause. This is the case to which I thought you were alluding. 

But I agree we should all spend more time hiking.

Richard H. Anderson