PRESCOTT v. OKLAHOMA CAPITOL PRESERVATION COMMISSION

2015 OK 54

Summary: Certain Oklahoma citizens challenged the placement of a Ten Commandments Monument on the grounds of the Oklahoma State Capitol under Article 2, Section 5 of the Oklahoma Constitution.

Legal Issues: The Oklahoma Supreme Court is the final arbiter of the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma. The challenge raised to the placement of the Ten Commandments Monument came not from the United States Constitution, but from the State of Oklahoma Constitution. Article 2, Section 5 reads: 

No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, 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.

This provision is markedly different from the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. The Oklahoma Supreme Court looked to the usual usages of the words "no", "ever", and "any" to mean a broad and expansive ban on such uses. The Court further ruled that prohibiting uses of public property that "indirectly" benefit a system of religion was clearly done to protect the ban from circumvention based upon mere form and technical distinction. Thus, the claim that the Monument was on display for 'historic purposes' is not applicable in that the Ten Commandments are obviously religious in nature and are an integral part of the Jewish and Christian faiths. While a 'historic purposes' justification may be sufficient for the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution, it is not sufficient under the ban placed in the Oklahoma State Constitution.

Discussion: The United States Supreme Court ruled in Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (2005), ruled that the Texas Ten Commandments monument did not violate the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. However, the challenge here was not brought under the United States Constitution. This challenge was made under the Oklahoma State Constitution. In the federal system of government all states must abide by the United States Constitution. However, the various states are free to operate within the confines of the United States Constitution and place burdens on the state government which exceed those placed on government in the United States Constitution, or to grant the state's citizens rights which exceed those granted by the United States Constitution. 

There have been calls for the impeachment of the Supreme Court Justices who made this ruling today. These calls are poorly founded. Rather, if one disagrees with Article 2, Section 5 of the Oklahoma Constitution one should advocate for an amendment of that language.