Supreme Court won't take up 'In God We Trust' case
Posted: Tuesday, November 15, 2005
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Leaders of a North Carolina county can keep "In God We Trust" on their government building, after challengers lost a Supreme Court appeal on Monday.
Justices did not comment in rejecting an appeal over the inscription on the Davidson County government building in Lexington, N.C. The action had been expected.
"The court has over the years avoided confronting the issue directly as to whether these kinds of public religious messages -- of a ceremonial or symbolic nature -- are impermissibly religious," said Keith Werhan, a law professor at Tulane University in New Orleans. "I suspect it's a question of letting sleeping dogs lie."
Earlier this year justices were splintered on the appropriateness of Ten Commandments displays in and near government buildings.
The inscription at issue in the Supreme Court case, in 18-inch block letters, was paid for with donations from individuals and churches in 2002. It is more prominent than the name of the building, according to opponents.
Charles F. Lambeth Jr. and Michael D. Lea, two lawyers who regularly practice in the building, filed the lawsuit.
A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that "In God We Trust" appears on the nation's coins and was made the national motto by Congress.
"In this situation, the reasonable observer must be deemed aware of the patriotic uses, both historical and present, of the phrase 'In God We Trust,"' the court ruled.
George Daly, the Charlotte, N.C., attorney for opponents of the inscription, told justices in a filing that "'In God We Trust' is the national motto, but it is also a religious creed, a statement of communal religious belief."
James Morgan Jr., the county's attorney, said that Ten Commandments displays are different from "In God We Trust," which has "been displayed for decades on government buildings and on the coins and paper money."
The case is Lambeth v. Board of Commissioners of Davidson County, 05-203.
Justices did not comment in rejecting an appeal over the inscription on the Davidson County government building in Lexington, N.C. The action had been expected.
"The court has over the years avoided confronting the issue directly as to whether these kinds of public religious messages -- of a ceremonial or symbolic nature -- are impermissibly religious," said Keith Werhan, a law professor at Tulane University in New Orleans. "I suspect it's a question of letting sleeping dogs lie."
Earlier this year justices were splintered on the appropriateness of Ten Commandments displays in and near government buildings.
The inscription at issue in the Supreme Court case, in 18-inch block letters, was paid for with donations from individuals and churches in 2002. It is more prominent than the name of the building, according to opponents.
Charles F. Lambeth Jr. and Michael D. Lea, two lawyers who regularly practice in the building, filed the lawsuit.
A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that "In God We Trust" appears on the nation's coins and was made the national motto by Congress.
"In this situation, the reasonable observer must be deemed aware of the patriotic uses, both historical and present, of the phrase 'In God We Trust,"' the court ruled.
George Daly, the Charlotte, N.C., attorney for opponents of the inscription, told justices in a filing that "'In God We Trust' is the national motto, but it is also a religious creed, a statement of communal religious belief."
James Morgan Jr., the county's attorney, said that Ten Commandments displays are different from "In God We Trust," which has "been displayed for decades on government buildings and on the coins and paper money."
The case is Lambeth v. Board of Commissioners of Davidson County, 05-203.
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