Monroe County loses court battle over Ten Commandments

Attorneys representing the county were not able Thursday to convince U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan that Knoxville attorney Kelly O. Herston could not sue over the display because he is not a resident of Monroe County or a regular user of its courthouse in Madisonville.

Francis Manion, an attorney with the American Center for Law and Justice and co-counsel for Monroe County, said Herston should not be allowed to sue because he had visited the courthouse only once before the American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit in January on his behalf.

“His contacts with the courthouse are simply too remote to rise beyond the level of hypothetical (injury),” Manion said.

Herston’s attorney, Susan Kay, said her client has had cases in Monroe County and saw the display “in the regular course of his business.”

“When he had to go to the Monroe County courthouse, he saw the display and was offended,” Kay said.

Varlan ruled against the county’s motion to dismiss the case and said Herston’s business at the courthouse “cannot be deemed infrequent.”

Herston and the ACLU contend in their lawsuit that the Ten Commandments display violates the First Amendment’s ban on government promotion of religion.

Monroe County Mayor Allan Watson attended the hearing and said he was disappointed by the decision.

“We lost this battle, but we’ve won the war,” Watson said. “That’s shown by the thousands upon thousands of yard signs I’ve seen in our county (supporting the display). It makes me feel good when those are on display.”

Herston said the ruling was what he expected.

“It’s in line with all the court opinions, and I’m glad the court applied the law,” he said.

In December, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, which hears cases from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, ruled in a Kentucky case that Ten Commandments postings with other historical documents in county administration buildings was unconstitutional.

In May 2002, federal Judge Allan Edgar ordered Hamilton County to take down its Ten Commandments displays at the courthouse and city courts buildings. Sumner, Rutherford and Shelby counties are among those in Tennessee who also have had historical displays that included the Ten Commandments.

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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com