I have read that the Supreme Court's ruling on the posting of Ten Commandments in public places such as courthouses will be announced Monday or very soon afterwards. Some may dismiss this ruling as trivial, but I see it as a significant symbolic opportunity to turn back the slide into theocracy that our country is taking. And we all know how strong symbols can be.
Some may think I have flipped, but I think there is a good chance that the Court will rule that ALL postings of the Ten Commandments in ALL public settings will be banned. I know, with this Court, this seems an odd conclusion. Chalk it up to: 1) a view that there is no way the Court can retain the so-called "Lemon test" and allow any Bible verses in courtrooms, 2) the overlooked but important key verdict in Locke V. Davey last year, in which the Court ruled that public funds cannot go to divinity students, and 3) the Supremes did not succumb to media hysteria and intervene in Schiavo.
The Locke case showed that even Rehnquist has some limits in tearing down the separation of church and state. It also showed that Scalia and Thomas have no such limits. They were the only two on the Court to rule for funding of religious education on that case.
It is easy to guess how the Ten Commandments case could come down to non-legal issues. For example, Kennedy is thought to still have some hope of being selected Chief Justice and therefore may give the religious right what they want. Then again, he may prefer to give his self-righteous critics a major smackdown for their picking on him lately over the juvenile death penalty and other rulings. And of course O'Connor is notorious for always taking the middle way and a compromise if one can be found at all.
So how do you think it will go?