ACLU of Ky. v. McCreary County (McCreary V)

• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
• Citation: 2007 WL 2903210 (E.D. Ky. Sept. 28, 2007)
• Decided: 2007
• Church-State Issue: Government-Sponsored Religion

Description

Although the Supreme Court in McCreary IV had affirmed a preliminary injunction requiring two counties to remove "Foundations of American Government Displays" from their courthouses due to their religious purpose, a permanent injunction was inappropriate because the Supreme Court had recognized that the counties could eventually purge the taint of their original, impermissible purpose.

Display: The plaintiffs originally challenged solitary displays of the Ten Commandments in courthouses. After the lawsuit was filed, the defendants added seven other documents referencing God or religion – the Congressional Record from 2/2/83 proclaiming the Year of the Bible; an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence stating that "all men ... are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights"; an excerpt from the Constitution of Kentucky stating that "We, the people from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, grateful to Almighty God"; President Lincoln’s proclamation of a Day of Prayer; President Reagan’s proclamation declaring 1983 the Year of the Bible; a copy of the Mayflower Compact, in which the founders invoke the "name of God"; and a picture of Abraham Lincoln which states that "The Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man."

After the court preliminarily enjoined these second displays, the counties posted a third pair of displays, consisting of nine identically-sized documents accompanied by explanatory phrases: the Ten Commandments, the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the lyrics of the Star Spangled Banner, the Mayflower Compact, the National Motto, the Preamble to the Kentucky Constitution, and a picture of Lady Justice. The court expanded the preliminary injunction to cover this display.

Decision: On remand from the Supreme Court’s decision in McCreary IV, 545 U.S. 844 (2005), affirming the expanded injunction, the court declined to permanently enjoin the county from posting the third displays because McCreary IV recognized that the counties could eventually purge the taint of their impermissible religious purpose, thus rendering the displays constitutional.