The Liberty Bell, The Oklahoma City Bombing, and Kentucky's Ten Commandments Monument
State-sponsored Ten Commandment displays might be constitutional, but must have a secular purpose, according to recent Supreme Court decisions tossing out one in Kentucky and allowing another in Texas. Kentucky state lawmakers have responded with a mandate to install a monument at the Capitol, with all the appropriate surrounding materials to give it historical or educational significance and ensure its constitutionality. There's just one problem:
The difficulty has been in finding the other displays.Jill Midkiff, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Division of Historic Properties, said a public appeal for historical exhibits that could be included in the memorial garden yielded no results. That left the state with little to add to the proposed garden, other than a replica of the Liberty Bell and a memorial honoring those killed in the Oklahoma City bombing.
Self said attorneys for the state won't ask the federal judge to lift the injunction until they're confident the memorial garden can pass constitutional muster. That means locating other memorials and monuments of historical significance to place in the memorial garden.