The ACLU and similar groups have long crusaded to force the removal of all aspects of religious expression from public grounds under the pretense that such expression violates the First Amendment. This amendment to H.R. 1501, offered by Representative Robert Aderholt (R-AL), takes issue with that notion. The amendment states that “the power to display the Ten Commandments” on public property is “declared to be among the powers reserved to the states….” It also declares that individual religious expression on public grounds is “among the rights secured against laws respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise of religion” and “among the liberties which no state shall deprive any person without due process of law….” Moreover: “The courts constituted, ordained, and established by the Congress shall exercise the judicial power in a manner consistent with the foregoing declarations.” The House adopted the amendment on June 17, 1999 by a vote of 248 to 180 (Congressional Record, pages H4486-87, roll call 221; we have assigned pluses to the yeas).
H.Amdt.200 to H.R.1501 - Freedom of Religion
The ACLU and similar groups have long crusaded to force the removal of all aspects of religious expression from public grounds under the false pretense that such expression violates the First Amendment.
