Taking the Ten Commandments to Court

—Terry Eastland from Beyond The News
The Supreme Court is prepared to hear cases alleging that public displays of the Ten Commandments are unconstitutional. Should the Court agree with this notion, you have to ponder the implications.

One frieze, on the south wall of the Court's own courtroom, portrays Moses holding two overlapping tablets. They're written in Hebrew, with commandments six through ten partially visible. Will the court deem this display in its own courtroom unconstitutional?

And what about the presence of the Ten Commandments elsewhere in the Court's own building? They're depicted on the East Pediment, in the Great Hall, and on the support frame of the courtroom's bronze gates. Are the justices prepared to break those tablets, too?

Let's hope not. Let's hope that common sense and the Constitution prevails, and that the Court understands such displays for what they are: suitable acknowledgements of the role of religion in American life.

Terry Eastland is the publisher of The Weekly Standard.
Read Terry Eastland's latest column at The Dallas Morning News.