Contact: Liberty Counsel Public Relations Department, 800-671-1776

GRAYSON COUNTY, KY., Nov. 12 /Standard Newswire/ -- Today Liberty Counsel is filing a brief with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which will consider whether a Foundations of American Law and Government display is constitutional when it contains documents that include the Ten Commandments in the Grayson County Courthouse. Liberty Counsel represents Grayson County and argues the inclusion of the Ten Commandments with the Foundations display is constitutional and should have never been removed.

The controversy began in September of 2001, when a private individual, Chester Shartzer, donated the Foundations of American Law and Government display. The documents include the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, the Star-Spangled Banner, the Ten Commandments, the National Motto, the Preamble to the Kentucky Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and a picture of Lady Justice with an explanation of the significance of each document. The purpose of the display is educational and is intended to reflect a sampling of documents that played a significant role in the development of the legal and governmental system of the United States.

The Foundations display was placed on a wall on the second floor of the courthouse. Neither the Fiscal Court nor any other Grayson County governmental entity expended any funds or appropriated any monies to have the documents framed or produced. There was no formal ceremony, and no member from the Fiscal Court oversaw or participated in the hanging of the display.

In 2002, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against Grayson County, and a federal judge ruled against the display. The display is identical to the displays at issue in the ACLU's lawsuits against McCreary, Pulaski and Harlan Counties in Kentucky.

These displays are spreading throughout the Nation. In 2006 the Georgia legislature passed a law allowing a similar display in government buildings. In 2005, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the same Ten Commandments display in Mercer County, Kentucky, which Liberty Counsel defended. The Sixth Circuit governs Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan. Notwithstanding this identical and controlling precedent, the federal judge entered a permanent injunction against the Grayson County display. Liberty Counsel appealed this ruling and is filing its brief today at the Court of Appeals. Oral argument will be set at a later time by the court.

Mathew D. Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: "The Ten Commandments is as much at home in a display about the foundation of law as stars and stripes are to the American flag. The Ten Commandments are part of the fabric of our country and helped shape the law. It defies common sense to remove a recognized symbol of law from a court of law. The ACLU might not like our history and might run from it, but the fact remains that the Ten Commandments shaped our laws and may be displayed in a court of law."