re: Arkansas' new Ten Commandments monument at Capitol destroyed

quote:

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Either they are constitutional and allowed to be there, or not. SCOTUS is hypocritical.

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SCOTUS when ruling on this issue consolidated two cases both concerning religious fixtures on public property (if I remember correctly from Con Law, they were both ten commandment statutes). In one case the fixture had been there for 50 years with no complaint brought to the court until it was then being ruled on; the other complaint was over a brand new fixture.

The Court held that the fixture that had been there for 50 years could stay because it had become an historical fixture and applied the doctrine of laches to say that because no one had brought a claim for 50 years, any claim that could be made was waived.

The Court held that the new fixture was unconstitutional because a claim was timely brought and it violated the establishment clause and furthermore that no historical value was present in the fixture.