Published: November 28, 2008 07:22 pm      

Ten Commandements: ACLU lawyers see big award from another Kentucky case

Associated Press Writer

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Two attorneys have been awarded more than $44,000 in fees after winning a battle over the public display of the Ten Commandments at a Kentucky courthouse.

U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley said attorneys David Friedman and William E. Sharp, both of whom argued the case for the American Civil Liberties Union, should split $44,208 after winning a permanent injunction keeping the text out of the courthouse in Leitchfield, Ky., about 75 miles southwest of Louisville.

"Because there are no special circumstances which would render an award of attorneys fees unjust, the plaintiffs are entitled to an award of attorney fees...," McKinley wrote.

McKinley on Wednesday also awarded the attorneys $3,252 in court costs.

Friedman and Sharp represented two citizens, Raymond Harper and Ed Meredith, who sued in 2001 claiming the intent of displaying the commandments in a public building was religious and violated the Constitution. In March, McKinley granted a permanent injunction barring the display of the Ten Commandments in Leitchfield as part of a "Foundations of American Law and Government" display.

No public money was used to set up the display in the Grayson county courthouse in Leitchfield.

The display originally included the full text of the Mayflower Compact, the full text of the Declaration of Independence, the Ten Commandments, the full text of the Magna Carta, the Star Spangled Banner, the National Motto together with the Preamble to the Kentucky Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and a picture of Lady Justice together with an explanation of the significance of each of the documents.

The case was filed in 2001, but put on hold while other legal disputes involving public displays of the Ten Commandments were heard in court. Grayson County officials have appealed McKinley's ruling to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 ruled that displays inside the McCreary and Pulaski county courthouses were unconstitutional while the U.S. 6th District Court of Appeals said a Mercer County Courthouse display that incorporated other historical documents was constitutional.

Since then, Ten Commandments displays and monuments in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia have been challenged and taken down.