CLEVELAND (AP) -- A federal judge ruled that a poster showing the Ten Commandments should not be displayed in a county courtroom.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen O'Malley ruled Tuesday that Richland County Common Pleas Judge James DeWeese's purpose for posting the commandments was ``generally laudable'' but ``constitutionally deficient, because the debate he seeks to foster is inherently religious in character.''
Gene Kapp, spokesman for American Center for Law and Justice, which represented DeWeese, said the center was working on an appeal. DeWeese, a county judge since 1991, did not return a call seeking comment.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio sued DeWeese and Richland County commissioners over the poster last year. Bernard Davis, an ACLU member in Mansfield, said the display made him feel as though the judge forced religion on him.
Attorneys for Richland County argued that the Ten Commandments was more than a religious text and had a significant influence on the modern legal system.
The U.S. Supreme Court last year declined to hear a similar case involving a Ten Commandments display outside a government building in Elkhart, Ind. It let stand a lower court ruling that the marker violated the constitutional boundaries between church and state.