Kentucky lawmakers defy court decision, order return of Ten Commandments monument to capitol (Religion Clause)

Defying a 2002 court decision, Kentucky lawmakers have passed a resolution ordering the return of a Ten Commandments monument to the state capitol. The resolution took effect after Gov. Andy Beshear neither signed nor vetoed the measure.

The Ten Commandments monument, donated to the state capitol in 1971, was removed in 2002 following a federal court decision. The new resolution states that the legal justification for the 2002 court decision “has been abandoned by the United States Supreme Court, and is no longer good law.”