10th Cir: Thou Shalt Not Violate Establishment Clause

A New Mexico town’s five-foot tall, 3,400-pound monument displaying the Ten Commandments on the city hall lawn violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held Nov. 9 (Felix v. City of Bloomfield, 2016 BL 374159, 10th Cir., No. 14-2149, 11/9/16).

The city of Bloomfield impermissibly endorsed the monument and insufficiently mitigated the endorsement’s effect, Judge David M. Ebel wrote for the court.

The U.S. Constitution’s establishment clause prohibits the government from favoring one religion over another.

The monument is government speech under Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, 555 U.S. 460