Displays of the Ten Commandments at two New York courthouses are unlikely to be affected by a pair of U.S. Supreme Court rulings on religious exhibits, legal analysts said yesterday.
New York was not among the 15 states that signed a brief asking the high court to abandon its separation-of-church-and-state standard, but the Justice Department’s memo did mention the stone etching outside the state Supreme Court building in Brooklyn that depicts Moses carrying two stone tablets.
A courthouse at 60 Centre St. in Manhattan also features a mural of law throughout the years in the rotunda, which includes Moses and the commandments.
In neither display are the commandments written out.
“There’s nothing about this decision that would render unconstitutional displays of the Ten Commandments that are rendered into building architecture,” said Christopher Dunn, associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
“What they’re really singling out is discrete displays, specifically those put up for purposes of a religious statement.”
The high court, in two separate rulings, said that displays of the commandments on government property are not inherently unconstitutional, and should be judged on a case-by-case basis.
The court said displays in two Kentucky courthouses were unconstitutional because they went too far in endorsing religion.
However, a controversial granite display of the Laws of Moses on the grounds of the Texas Capitol was allowed by the high court, because it was determined to be a legitimate tribute to the country’s legal history.
David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the New York Office of Court Administration, said New York officials were still analyzing the rulings.