For some reason, the commissioners in Hamilton County, Texas think it’d be a great idea to install a stand-alone Ten Commandments monument outside the local courthouse, despite a very clear Supreme Court ruling that says that very thing is an illegal promotion of Christianity.

There’s already an “In God We Trust” sign outside the courthouse which skirts the boundary of church/state separation but has traditionally been on the “legal” side of it. The Ten Commandments one, however, would cross that boundary without question.

When the commissioners met this week, the discussion went in the wrong direction when a local judge cosplaying Roy Moore insisted there was nothing wrong with the potential Christian monument.

“I have no problem bringing it before the court and the will of the people in my opinion will be served,” County Judge Mark Tynes said. “There have been those who waved the Constitution at me and I said, ‘OK wonderful, show me in the Constitution where what we are doing is against the Constitution?’”

It’s in the amendments somewhere. One of the first few, I think. Pretty early in the bunch.

Christ, that man is a judge…

At least one local lawyer, Nancy Yates, injected some wisdom into the debate.

“By putting this plaque up to the Ten Commandments they’re making the choice to support a particular voice as opposed to the Hindu voice or the Buddhist voice or the Islamic voice.” … Yates says she believes if the county does go ahead with the monuments, the issue will end up in court. “I think that leads directly to litigation that’s already occurred throughout the United States and that litigation costs will be detrimental to our county.”

She’s right. Even if the courts have taken a rightward shift during the current administration, lower courts would be bound by precedent, and that means the county would almost certainly lose if they wanted to advertise Christianity like this.

For now, the proposal will be discussed more next month and a vote could come soon after that. If they approve the monument, you can bet a lawsuit will follow right after.

Or maybe The Satanic Temple could speed up the process by offering to put up their own monument…

(Thanks to Brian for the link)

