CROSS CITY (FBW)—Liberty Counsel, based in Orlando, will represent Dixie County in a federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU after the county allowed a local company to erect a Ten Commandments monument near the county courthouse in Cross City. Anderson Columbia, a highway construction company, purchased the six-ton black granite monument and received permission to place it near the courthouse. According to a press release from Liberty Counsel, the ACLU, claiming the monument is a violation of the Establishment Clause, is seeking the removal of the monument, damages and attorney's fees.They will lose, and lose soundly, even though they feel emboldened about their win in the Eighth Circuit. This monument has an explicit endorsement of religion which no other monument, ever, has had ("Love God and Keep His Commandments"), and our Eleventh Circuit already has a ruling on the books for stare decisis, one with which we're all familiar (Roy Moore's case).
"Dixie County is not establishing a religion by allowing a private company to place a monument in a location where similarly donated monuments may be placed," said Matt Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel. "The Ten Commandments are universally recognized as symbolic of the law, and are appropriate for display in courthouses and similar settings. Public display of the Commandments is consistent with our nation's history and with the First Amendment. There are more than 50 depictions of the Ten Commandments in the U.S. Supreme Court, and there have been thousands of displays throughout the country for many years."
The Liberty Counsel won't pay the plaintiff's legal fees, and the county will waste money that should and could go to doing something real and tangiable -- like educating its schoolchildren, repairing roads, or buying the impoverished food and shelter. It makes me nauseated.
Heather Wellman, new executive director of the Florida Humanists Association, wrote two articulate (and moderately-stanced) articles enunciating the multiple ills that these cases represent for the health of our country and Constitution: here and here.
If there is anyone out there who gambles, I am willing to bet a large amount of money that the plaintiffs will win their case. Email me and we'll discuss terms and odds. If you're willing to take the bet, I've also got a bridge in Brooklyn that's for sale.
My detailed analysis of the legal issues can be found here, and everything I've written on this situation, including extensive local media coverage, here.
- Gainesville Sun -- 11/28
- Dixie County Advocate -- 11/30
- Alligator -- 11/30
- Alligator -- 12/1 (editorial)
- FFRF Press Release -- 12/1
- Gainesville Sun -- 12/02
- 3 Letters to the Editor at the Sun -- pro, pro, con (12/2)
- Dixie County Advocate -- 12/7
- 2 More Letters to the Editor at the Sun -- pro (12/12), con (12/17)
- St. Petersburg Times -- 1/3/07
- St. Petersburg Times -- letter (con) 1/13/07 (4th letter down; response to 1/3/07 article above)
- Gainesville Sun -- 2/7
- ACLU News Release -- 2/7
- Reuters (Miami) -- 2/7
- Gainesville Sun -- 2/8
- St. Petersburg Times -- 2/8
- Alligator (LTE): -- 2-9 (con), (I wrote this one, see more HERE)
- Dixie County Advocate -- 2/15
- Gainesville Sun (LTE) -- 2/17 (pro)
- Dixie County Advocate (LTE) -- 2/24 (con)
- Liberty Counsel -- 3/8
- Florida Humanists Association -- 4/9, (also here and here)
Technorati tags: Religion, Church-state, Politics
