Keeping the Commandments

Abstract

This brief article defends the Supreme Court case of Pleasant Grove v. Summum (2009), which upheld a longstanding display of a privately-donated Decalogue monument in a public park. Old religious displays in public life like this deserve greater deference, and the First Amendment Establishment Clause should not provide a taxpayer with a heckler’s veto over a community’s decision to maintain the symbol.

Keywords: First Amendment; religious symbols; establishment clause; Pleasant Grove case