This report analyzes the Court's holdings in the Ten Commandments cases and the distinctions the Court made in reaching divergent decisions. It also briefly addresses other relevant cases in which the Court evaluated constitutional issues related to religious displays on public property, including holiday displays. Finally, the report discusses related Court decisions regarding public displays, including Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum and Salazar v. Buono . Public Displays of the Ten Commandments

In 1980, the Supreme Court first addressed the constitutionality of public displays of the Ten Commandments. In 2005, the Supreme Court issued two decisions involving public displays of the Ten Commandments. Stone v. Graham

In Stone v. Graham , the Court struck down a Kentucky statute requiring the posting of a privately funded copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall of each public school classroom in the state. The Court determined that the statute had no secular purpose, failing the Lemon test's first prong, and therefore was unconstitutional.
Over the past few decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued several decisions regarding public displays of religious symbols. Although a few of these cases have involved temporary religious holiday displays, the more recent cases have involved permanent monuments of religious symbols, specifically the Ten Commandments. In 1980, the Supreme Court held in Stone v. Graham that a Kentucky statute requiring the posting of a copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall of each public school classroom in the state had no secular legislative purpose and was therefore unconstitutional. The Court did not address the constitutionality of public displays of the Ten Commandments again until 2005. In McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky and Van Orden v. Perry, the Court reached differing conclusions regarding displays of the Ten Commandments in different contexts.
This report analyzes the Court's holdings in Stone, McCreary, and Van Orden, and the distinctions the Court made in reaching the divergent decisions. It also briefly addresses other relevant cases in which the Court evaluated constitutional issues related to religious displays on public property, including holiday displays. Finally, the report discusses related Court decisions regarding other types of public displays, including Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum and Salazar v. Buono.