College of William & Mary Law School William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository Supreme Court Preview Conferences, Events, and Lectures 2004 Section 8: Update & Looking Ahead Institute of Bill of Rights Law at the William & Mary Law School Repository Citation Institute of Bill of Rights Law at the William & Mary Law School, "Section 8: Update & Looking Ahead" (2004). Supreme Court Preview. 182. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/preview/182 Copyright c 2004 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/preview Looking Ahead Looking Ahead: The Ten Commandments; Van Orden v. Perry Synopsis and Question Presented 523 Looking Ahead: The Ten Commandments; Johnson v. Baker Synopsis and Question Presented 528 A Most UnusualLawyer; A Homeless Man with Psychological Scars is Challenging Texas Over a Ten Commandments Statute. The Supreme Court May Take His Case. Scott Gold 532 Two Tablets May Renew A High Court Headache; Disputes in Alabama, Other States Prompt Call For Supreme Court to Issue Definitive Ruling Manuel Roig-Franzia 537 FederalAppeals Court Rules Against Ky. Ten Commandments Display 540 Turmoil In Adams County: Religious Displays Taken From Schools Randy Ludlow 542 Debate Lingers As Monument is Removed From View; Commandments Display Put in Storage in Ala. Courthouse Alan Cooperman & Manuel Roig-Franzia 545 Alabama Justice's Ouster Upheld in Ten Commandments Case Ariel Hart 547 Looking Ahead: Felony Voting Rights; Muntaqim v. Coombe Synopsis and Question Presented 548 DisenfranchisedWithout Recourse? Gary Young 553 Felony DisenfranchisementLaws in the United States The Sentencing Project 555 Once a Felon, Never a Voter? Megan Twohey 558 Votes For Felons John J. Miller 562 519 Restoring Felons' Voting Rights A Heated Election-Year Issue in Florida Chicago Tribune Staff 565 Looking Ahead: Freedom of Religion for Prison Inmates; Bass v. Madison Synopsis and Question Presented 568 Zoning Gets Religious David L. Hudson, Jr. 575 Lawsuit May Force Change in Prison Ban on Beards Richard Fausset 577 Joint Statement ofSenator Hatch and Senator Kennedy on the Religious Land Use and InstitutionalizedPersons Act of2000 Congressional Record (S6687-S6689) 580 The Law of Prisons:In the Belly of the Whale: Religious Practice in Prison 583 Federalismand Federal Spending: Why RL UIPA is Unconstitutional Gregory S. Walston 587 Looking Ahead: Internet Piracy and User Privacy; RecordingIndustry ofAmerica v. Verizon Synopsis and Question Presented 589 Recording Industry Curbed on Music Suits Jonathan Krim and Frank Ahrens 594 Music Industry's Move Against Swappers Hits a Snag Just as Impact Takes Hold Ethan Smith 597 PiracyHas Its Hooks In Edna Gundersen 600 Music Industry Spins Falsehood Janis Ian 605 Looking Ahead: Oregon Death with Dignity Act; Oregon v. Ashcroft Synopsis and Question Presented 607 Ashcroft Attacks Oregon's Suicide Law Josh Meyer and Kim Murphy 615 520 Court Rejects Ashcroft; Backs Suicide Law Henry Weinstein 618 Euthanizing the CSA Wesley J. Smith 621 In Oregon, Choosing Death Over Suffering John Schwartz and James Estrin 623 Suicidal Folly Jonathan H. Adler 626 Why Ashcroft is Wrong on Assisted Suicide Nelson Lund 629 Looking Ahead: The Defense of Marriage Act Law Backing Two-Sex MarriageIs Upheld by FederalJudge Adam Liptak 631 MarriageAct Is Upheld In Pair'sBankruptcy Maureen O'Hagan 633 Bush Has the Wrong Remedy to Court-Imposed Gay Marriage Stuart Taylor, Jr. 635 Supreme Court Paved Way for MarriageRuling With Sodomy Law Decision Linda Greenhouse 638 States'Recognition of Same-Sex Unions May Be Tested Charles Lane 640 Leave Marriageto the States Bob Barr 642 Looking Ahead: Federal Ban on Partial Birth Abortion; Court Rules That Governments Can't Outlaw Type ofAbortion Linda Greenhouse 644 Senate Passes Ban on Abortion Procedure;Bush Set to Sign Bill; Foes Plan Court Fight Helen Dewar 647 Partial-birthBan Debated in Court Amy Fagan 649 521 Next on Abortion: Supreme Collision Simon Lazarus 651 U.S. Judge in San FranciscoStrikes Down FederalLaw Banning Form ofAbortion Adam Liptak 654 U.S. Court in New York Rejects Partial-BirthAbortion Ban Julia Preston 657 522 The Ten Commandments Van Orden v. Perry (03-1500) Ruling Below: (Van Orden v. Perry, 5th Cir., 351 F.3d 173; 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 23100) Monuments in the Texas Capitol building and grounds depict both the secular and religious history of Texas. A Ten Commandments monument was placed forty-two years ago on the side of the capitol opposite the main entrance. There was no legislative history on its placement there, it was not erected with tax dollars, and it requires no maintenance. The court held that a reasonable viewer touring the capitol grounds, informed of the Ten Commandments monument's history and p lacement, would n ot c onclude that t he s tate w as g iving a religious rather than a secular message. The monument was declared constitutionally sound. Questions Presented: (1) Did Texas lack a secular purpose when they erected the monument? (2) Is the primary effect of the display to advance religion? THOMAS VAN ORDEN Plaintiff-Appellant, v. RICK PERRY, in his official capacity as Governor of Texas and Chairman, State Preservation Board; DAVID DEWHURST, in his official capacity as Co-Vice Chairman, State Preservation Board and President of the Senate of Texas; TOM CRADDICK, in his official capacity as Co-Vice Chairman, State Preservation Board and Speaker of the House of Representatives of Texas; CHRIS HARRIS, in his official capacity as Member of the State Preservation Board; PEGGY HAMRICK, in her official capacity as Member of the State Preservation Board; JOCELYN LEVI STRAUS, in her official capacity as Member of the Texas Preservation Board; CHARLYNN DOERING, in her official capacity as Interim Executive Director, State Preservation Board, Defend ants-Appellees. United States Court of Appeals For the Fifth Circuit Decided November 12, 2003 [Excerpt; some footnotes and citations omitted] HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judge: documents, testimony, and an extensive stipulation of facts filed by the parties. In a The p laintiff, Thomas V an 0 rden, a sks t he careful opinion, the court rejected the claim of federal courts to order the State of Texas to First Amendment violations and entered remove from the grounds of the State judgment for the State. The plaintiff appeals. Capitol a granite monument in which the We affirm. Ten Commandments are etched. In a bench trial, the district court considered 523 I women in Texas history; a replica of the Statue The Capitol, with its surrounding twenty- of Liberty; and a tribute to the Texans lost at two acres, was dedicated on May 16, 1888. Pearl Harbor. The first monument was erected on these grounds three years later. It was "a bronze The Ten Commandments monument was a gift statue of a Texan holding a muzzle-loading of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, accepted by a rifle atop a Texas Sunset Red granite base." joint resolution of the House and Senate in Names of the Texans who died in the battle early 1961. It is a granite monument of the Alamo are inscribed on its four approximately six feet high and three and a half granite supports. Sixteen additional feet wide. In the center of the monument, a monuments have s ince been erected on the large panel displays a nonsectarian version of capitol grounds, a protected National the text of the Commandments. Above this text, Historic Landmark maintained by the S tate the monument contains depictions of two small Preservation Board. tablets with ancient Hebrew script. There are also several symbols etched into the The Visitor Services of the State provides monument: just above the text, there is an tours of the Capitol Building with its historic American eagle grasping the American flag; statuary, portraits, and memorabilia, and it higher still, there is an eye inside a pyramid publishes a written guide for walking tours closely resembling the symbol displayed on the of the grounds for visitors who wish to one-dollar bill. Just below the text are two continue with the outdoor displays. The small Stars of David, as well as a symbol guided tour of the Capitol Building offers a representing Christ: two Greek letters, Chi and wide array of monuments, plaques, and seals Rho, superimposed on each other. Just below depicting both the secular and religious the text of the commandments, offset in a history of Texas. They include a tribute to decorative, scroll- shaped box, the monument African American legislators, a Confederate bears the inscription: "PRESENTED TO THE plaque, a plaque commemorating the donors PEOPLE AND YOUTH OF TEXAS BY THE of the granite for the building, and a plaque FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES OF commemorating the war with Mexico. There TEXAS 1961." is a Six Flags Over Texas display on the floor of the Capitol Rotunda featuring the The parties stipulated that (1) the sparse Mexican Eagle and serpent which as legislative history "contains no record of any visitors will learn, is a symbol of Aztec discussion about the monument, or the reasons prophecy together with the Confederate for its acceptance, and is comprised entirely of Seal containing the inscription "Deo House and Senate Journal entries"; (2) the State Vindice" (God will judge). Should the tour selected the site on the recommendation of the continue to the Supreme Court Building, Building Engineering and Management visitors will find inscribed above the bench Division of the State Board of Control; (3) the the phrase "Sicut Patribus, Sit Deus Nobis" expenses "were borne exclusively by the (As God was to our fathers, may He also be Eagles"; (4) the monument requires virtually no to us). Before reaching the Supreme Court maintenance; and (5) the dedication of the building from the Capitol, visitors will monument was presided over by Senator Bruce encounter four other monuments in the Reagan and Representative Will Smith.