ACLU considering options after losing Plattsmouth religion case

Plattsmouth Ten Commandments monument can stay Omaha World Herald. The ACLU says it is considering its options after losing the Plattsmouth 10 commandments case, more likely it must decide if it wants to pursue the case on its own dime instead of the governments. Plattsmouth can continue to display a Ten Commandments monument in the city's Memorial Park, a federal appeals court ruled today. The Plattsmouth, Neb., display, a polished marble monument with the Ten Commandments etched on it, is in a public park. The full 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 11-2 in favor of the Plattsmouth monument, reversing an earlier ruling by one of the court's three-judge panels. The court ruled that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in a Texas case applied to the Plattsmouth case. "I feel great," Plattsmouth Mayor Paul Lambert said. "It reinforces my faith in this country and its legal system. . . . It makes me feel good for all our citizens." The American Civil Liberties Union, which sued the city on a resident's behalf to have the marker removed, said it was too soon to decide whether to appeal the ruling. "We're obviously disappointed by today's decision," said Amy Miller, legal director for the Nebraska ACLU. "We can't say anything further about our next step until I have had an opportunity to confer with our client and our board of directors." The Ten Commandments case, one of several around the nation involving religious displays on public property, has been an issue in Plattsmouth for the past five years. The ACLU brought the challenge on behalf of local resident Ron Larsen, a vocal promoter of atheism and a critic of organized religion. The Plattsmouth marker has stood at a tree-canopied corner along Fourth Avenue since a dedication ceremony in 1965 by local Eagles members and city officials. When the City of Plattsmouth rejected the ACLU's request that it move the monument, the organization sued the city in May 2001. U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf of Lincoln ruled in favor of the ACLU and Larsen in 2002, and a three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit voted 2-1 in 2004 to uphold that decision. The full Appeals Court heard arguments in the case last September. Since then, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a 6-foot-tall granite monument on the grounds of the Texas Capitol - one of 17 historical displays on the 22-acre lot - was a legitimate tribute to the nation's legal and religious history. In today's ruling, Judge Pasco Bowman said, "The Plattsmouth monument makes passive and permissible use of the text of the Ten Commandments to acknowledge the role of religion in our nation's heritage." Bowman noted that Plattsmouth's 45-acre park is 10 blocks from the Plattsmouth City Hall. And, he said no one had objected for decades until the recent challenge. In a dissent, Judge Kermit Edward Bye said his fellow judges incorrectly applied the Supreme Court's Texas decision. He said the Plattsmouth case is different because the local Ten Commandments monument is not part of a larger display. Mayor Lambert said sentiment in the town was overwhelmingly in favor of the monument. "Everyone who I had heard from said. 'Leave it there,'" he said. "We took a stand, and it's always good when you win." The monument remained in place during the legal challenge. Lambert said some residents had placed flowers at the monument while the courts decided its fate.