ACLU Sues Over Ten Commandments Display in Georgia

[TexasStooge]

ATLANTA (Reuters) - The American Civil Liberties Union said on Tuesday it was filing a federal lawsuit to force officials in Georgia to remove a parchment inscription of the Ten Commandments from a rural courthouse.

In the suit, which was expected to be filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Gainesville, Georgia, the group said the display in the hallway of the Barrow County courthouse in Winder violated the constitutional ban on government promotion of religion.

Winder is about 35 miles east of Atlanta.

"We had tried to work with the county and we weren't able to come to a resolution, so we had to file a lawsuit," said Maggie Garrett, an ACLU lawyer.

Officials in Barrow County have vowed to keep the 3-by-4-foot framed display in the courthouse, where it has hung for 18 months. They say they have the support of residents.

Last week, about 1,000 Christians, including former presidential candidate Alan Keyes, held a rally in Winder to support Barrow County's stand.

"The lawsuit is not a surprise. We've been expecting it," said Lane Downs, a county spokeswoman. Downs said county commissioners likely would decide this week how to respond to the ACLU action.

The dispute over the Georgia display comes just weeks after civil liberties activists and Christians clashed in neighboring Alabama over the constitutionality of a monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments.

Last month, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore triggered heated debate when he refused to comply with a federal court order to remove the 5,000 pound (2.3-ton) granite monument from the state's judicial building in Montgomery.

Moore, who had the display surreptitiously placed in the building in the summer of 2001, was suspended from his duties by a judicial review board shortly after authorities removed the marker from public view.

[Lindaloo]

They will win it too.

[Guest]

Another sad day in our lawsuit crazy society......................