'Philosophy' poster containing Ten Commandments gets judge back in spotlight

[The Straight Story]

'Philosophy' poster containing Ten Commandments gets judge back in spotlight
U.S. appeals court to rule on display


A second constitutional challenge to an Ohio judge's display of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom is making its way through the court system.

At issue is whether a new, self-designed and framed poster put up by Richland County Common Pleas Judge James DeWeese in his Mansfield courtroom is constitutional. He says it is. Advocates for church-state separation say it isn't.

The judge hung the poster in 2006. That was after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 let stand previous lower-court rulings that his first poster, which he hung in 2000, violated the constitutional separation between church and state.

On Tuesday, Americans United for Separation of Church and State joined Hindu, Jewish and other groups in filing a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that the judge's display is an unconstitutional governmental endorsement of religion. The brief was filed in the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/01/27/poster-with-10-commandments-puts-judge-back-in-spotlight.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101