By Steve Jordahl
Focus on the Family
September 4, 2003


Four bills now being discussed would limit the power of federal courts to
rule against displays of America's Judeo-Christian foundations.

The controversy over the removal of a Ten Commandments monument in Alabama
has had an impact on the first few days of the recently reconvened U.S.
Congress.

No fewer than four bills have been introduced in the House and Senate,
each seeking in some way to limit the authority of federal courts to ban
religiously themed displays on government property.

U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., has introduced the Ten Commandments
Defense Act, which cites the history of religious expression in the
nation's founding documents and declares that states have the right to
decide how the Ten Commandments should be displayed. The bill has
attracted 66 cosponsors — Pennsylvania Republican Joe Pitts among them.
"Right now there seems to be an effort to work through the courts to get
displays of the Ten Commandments either removed from public buildings or
to prevent them from being displayed," said Pitts' spokesman, Derek
Karchner. "The primary motivation for this is to rein in the courts, which
are taking a little bit of license with what they are interpreting to be
the law."

Rep. Todd Akin and Sen. Wayne Allard have introduced similar legislation.
Historian David Barton of Wallbuilders said the flurry of activity
indicates that what happened in Alabama — a federal judge ordering the
removal of a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial center
rotunda — is not an isolated incident.

"We're in an extremely activist period right now (with regard to judges
overstepping their constitutional authority), more than in any time in our
history," Barton said.

He added that what's really going on is that the federal courts are
testing the limits of their power.

"The court sits back and says, 'What's going to happen to us if we do
something that's across the line?' — and obviously today the answer is
nothing," Barton said. "So they're getting more and more and more and more
activist."