[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 14526-14527]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     SUPREME COURT COURTS CONFUSION

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, yesterday in the Supreme Court it was the Ten 
Commandments versus the Ten Commandments. The score: one for the Ten 
Commandments and one against the Ten Commandments.
  The Supreme Court ruled in a Kentucky courthouse they have to take 
down those Ten Commandments. The Supreme Court ruled the same day, 
yesterday, that the Ten Commandments on the Texas capitol grounds, they 
can leave them up. This was a 5-4 decision, and the Supreme Court has 
created confusion to legal minds throughout the country and to citizens 
of this Republic.
  Stephen Breyer voted one way in one case, and the other way in the 
other. He is the swing vote. So what do we do in the future when we 
want to address the Ten Commandments and where they should be placed? 
Do we call him on the phone and ask permission and wait for him to deny 
it or grant it?
  Madam Speaker, the first amendment of the Constitution is very 
simple. It says Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment 
of religion. But there is a second phrase: or prohibiting the free 
exercise thereof. We have a Nation with a long religious history. 
Contrary to France whose Constitution states that it is a secular 
republic, in France religion and government never meet.
  We are not that way. Congress starts with a prayer. We have In God We 
Trust above the flag. We have Moses in the back. The Supreme Court has 
the Ten Commandments above it in its Chambers.
  The Supreme Court's ruling is confusing and defies predictability. 
The

[[Page 14527]]

Supreme Court has created a hostility towards religion. The Supreme 
Court has become a court of confusion.

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