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Cornyn Statement On Supreme Court Decision In Texas Ten Commandments Case

Date: June 27, 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Judicial Branch


Cornyn Statement On Supreme Court Decision In Texas Ten Commandments Case

Case centers on public display of the Ten Commandments on the state capitol grounds in Texas

Monday, June 27, 2005

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Judiciary Committee, made the following statement regarding the U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday in a case (Van Orden v. Perry) involving a public display of the Ten Commandments on the state capitol grounds in Texas. Cornyn's successor as Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, made opening arguments in the case.

"This decision made clear that the people's right to display our nation's most revered documents in public squares across America is inherent in our Constitution. It is clear that Americans have the constitutional right to exercise their faith openly - not just at home, but in the public square as well.

"There's bipartisan agreement on the constitutionality of other important parts of our national heritage such as the Pledge of Allegiance, and the same bipartisan agreement should be extended here. Government should never be hostile to expressions of faith and history, such as the Ten Commandments, in the public square."

Cornyn introduced legislation in March of this year to strengthen the Equal Access Act, a law that prohibits public secondary schools that receive federal funds from discriminating against groups on the basis of political or religious belief.

Sen. Cornyn's bill will expand the scope of the Equal Access Act to elementary schools. The legislation is a follow-up to a hearing Sen. Cornyn chaired last year as head of the Constitution subcommittee to examine hostility toward religious expression in the public square. Cornyn held the hearing to focus on examples of hostility toward private expressions of faith in the public square, as well as discrimination against religious expression in government speech. The hearing also examined the views of the Founders regarding the free exercise of religion and the inconsistent jurisprudence in the area of religious expression.

Cornyn served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge.

http://cornyn.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=239619&ref=home

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