A national tour of former Alabama judge Roy Moore’s granite monument to the Ten Commandments hit its first snag when atheist protesters confronted it on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., last month. Until then the 12-state, 64-town tour had been largely peaceful as people were allowed to read, touch and pose for pictures with the piece of granite from Alabama they had been reading about.
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear two cases related to ongoing questions about the constitutionality of displays of the Ten Commandments in public places.
Legal groups who have long hoped the high court would address this issue—for the first time since 1980—welcomed the announcement by the court October 12.
“The decision to review a case involving the display of the Ten Commandments is long overdue,” said Mat Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based law organization representing McCreary and Pulaski counties in Kentucky.