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Lamar Smith
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Smith and Chabot Respond to Supreme Court’s Ten Commandments Decisions

Washington, Jun 27 -

Congressmen Lamar Smith (R−TX) and Steve Chabot (R−OH), co−chairmen of the House Judicial Accountability Working Group (JAWG), today released the following statements regarding the Supreme Court’s Ten Commandment’s decision:

“While I am pleased that the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Ten Commandments display on the grounds of the Texas Capitol in Austin, I am disappointed that the display in the Kentucky courthouse was not given the same respect,” said Smith.

“The Ten Commandments are an integral part of our society, history, values and legal system. Unfortunately, the Court has erred on the side of activists bent on banishing all forms of public religious recognition. The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, not freedom from religion,” commented Smith.

“States should have the opportunity to appropriately display and recognize the historical importance of the Commandments, be it on state capitol grounds or in our nation’s courtrooms,” Smith noted.

“To not recognize the influence of the Ten Commandments on our legal system is to ignore the principles on which our nation was founded,” Smith concluded.

“The Ten Commandments are symbols of all society’s commitment to live by a guiding set of principles. These principles, which are implicit in our Constitution, represent the ideals on which our founding fathers came to this country and sought to protect through the First Amendment,” said Chabot.

“Thus, while I am pleased by the court’s ruling in Van Orden v. Perry upholding the display of the Ten Commandments on government property, I am deeply disappointed in the court’s contradictory decision in McCreary County, KY v. ACLU,” noted Chabot.

“I continue to believe that as members of Congress we have a duty to protect these ideals, the vision of our founding fathers, and the authority of the Constitution,” Chabot concluded.