Atlandta, USA - A rural Georgia county removed an inscription of the Ten Commandments from its courthouse on Tuesday, ending a two-year battle with civil libertarians over the constitutionality of the Judeo-Christian display.
The removal of the 3-by-4-foot (1-by-1.2-meter) framed parchment display from a hallway in the Barrow County courthouse in Winder, Georgia, came weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such markers were legal only in limited circumstances.
That decision dealt a blow to the Georgia county's effort to fight a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which argued the display should be removed because it violated the constitutional ban on government promotion of religion.
The case was supposed to go to trial this week in a federal court in Georgia, but was canceled after the county agreed to abide by the ACLU's request. On Monday, U.S. District Judge William O'Kelley ordered the display removed.
"The lack of private funding for continuing the defense and the recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court have forced the county to submit to this court order," Barrow County Commission Chairman Doug Garrison said on Tuesday.
Garrison added that it was too early to say how residents would react. Thousands of people, many of them fundamentalist Christians, have attended rallies in and around Winder in support of the county's position in the past two years.
Winder is about 35 miles east of Atlanta.
Last month the Supreme Court struck down the posting of Ten Commandments plaques in two Kentucky courthouses, ruling that they were unconstitutional because their content overemphasized religion.
At the same time, it ruled that a Ten Commandments monument could remain on the grounds of the Texas capitol because it was a neutral display that honored the nation's history. The Barrow County inscription had been on display a mere three years.
"We're pleased mostly that all citizens of Barrow County, regardless of their religious beliefs, can now feel welcome in their own community," said Maggie Garrett, an ACLU lawyer in Georgia.
Judge O'Kelley's order also calls for the county to pay $150,000 in legal costs to the ACLU and refrain from hanging similar displays on public property.