Oklahoma governor defiant on statue
Despite ruling, she says it won’t be taken down
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said the state’s controversial Ten Commandments statue is staying put despite a state Supreme Court ruling ordering it to be taken off the statehouse grounds.
The state’s highest court handed down a broad 7-2 decision last week, which found that the monument violated the state’s constitution.
Fallin defended the statue and said that “the court got it wrong.” She added that the statue will remain in place while the state appeals the court’s decision and the legislature considers changes to the constitution.
“Oklahoma is a state where we respect the rule of law, and we will not ignore the state courts or their decisions,” Fallin said. “However, we are also a state with three co-equal branches of government.”
“At this time, Attorney General Scott Pruitt, with my support, has filed a petition requesting a rehearing of the Ten Commandments case. Additionally, our Legislature has signaled its support for pursuing changes to our state Constitution that will make it clear the Ten Commandments monument is legally permissible,” she added. “If legislative efforts are successful, the people of Oklahoma will get to vote on the issue.”
In the ruling, the court noted that the statue, a 6-foot-high stone replica of two tablets engraved with the Ten Commandments, is “obviously” religious in nature. The state constitution specifically prohibits state funds or property from being directed “for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.”
Fallin and proponents of the statue note that it was paid for with private donations and say it is no different from a Christmas tree lighting held at the capitol every year or Native American works of art that include symbols of religion.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, which handled the legal proceedings in the case, called Fallin’s decision “political grandstanding.”
One of the plaintiffs in the case against the state noted that the monument is so large and unavoidable that it gives the impression of a state-sanctioned religion.
“I’m not opposed to Ten Commandment monuments; I’m opposed to them on government property,” said Bruce Prescott, who is an ordained Baptist minister.