Ten Commandments monument legislation approved by Senate panel

FRANKFORT, Ky. (KT) - Legislation that would return the Ten Commandments monument, which was donated by the Kentucky Aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1971 to the State Capitol grounds, was approved By the Senate State and Local Government Committee on Monday.

The monument was displayed on the Capitol grounds until the 1980s, when it was moved to storage due to a construction project. In 2000, a joint resolution was signed into law requiring it be returned to the Capitol grounds for permanent display near the floral clock, but that never happened due to legal challenges.

In 2002, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court order prohibiting enforcement of the 2000 joint resolution, by applying a test established by the United States Supreme Court in Lemon v. Kurtzman in 1971. As a result, the monument was returned to the Fraternal Order of Eagles and given to the care of the organization's chapter in Hopkinsville.

However, in 2005, the United States Supreme Court in Van Orden v. Perry upheld the exhibition of an essentially identical Fraternal Order of Eagles' Ten Commandments monument on permanent display on the state Capitol grounds in Austin, Tex. The Court held that Lemon was "not useful in dealing with the sort of passive monument that Texas has erected on its Capitol ground," and instead focused on the "nature of the monument" and "our Nation's history." That negated the Court of Appeals order.

The sponsor of House Joint Resolution 15, Rep. Shane Baker, R-Somerset, noted, "Returning the monument to the Capitol grounds is historic restoration, acknowledging the history and tradition of the commonwealth and our nation."

Rep. Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, who also testified before the committee, stated, "We have abrogated the Lemon test, and now we are looking at historical practices and historical understanding of things as opposed to religious. If there is something for another religion that is brought forward in another resolution, it should be looked at in the same sense."

HJR 15 now heads to the Senate floor, it's final step in the legislative process.