Presiding Circuit Court Judge Ashley McKathan in Covington County, Alabama, has begun appearing in his court wearing a robe embroidered with the Ten Commandments. He did it with his own money, but he says it's to make a statement about his personal religious convictions. That will be sufficient to invalidate the practice.

The Mobile Register reports:

"Truth is an absolute value," McKathan said, "and you can't divorce the law from the truth. I feel we must resist the modern attempts to discount the truth." ... "I see the Ten Commandments as a connection to the truth," he said. "The scriptural truth is the underlying foundation for the law. It has sustained Western civilization for centuries. Without the truth, you can throw the law away."

Attorney Riley Powell of Andalusia and Gulf Shores said Tuesday he filed a motion objecting to the robe in a case before McKathan. "I was representing an airline pilot who was accused of driving under the influence," Powell said. "It's not that I am anti-Christian in the least. In fact, on a personal level I respect what Judge McKathan is doing very much. It's just the robe has created a great distraction in the courtroom with media present and cameras. And when the judge wears his personal views on his chest, does that influence the jury?" Powell asked. "Does it send a signal or change what a juror's own beliefs might be? My client is entitled to a trial without that distraction or those issues."

"The recognition of the God who gave us the Ten Commandments is fundamental to an understanding of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution," [Roy] Moore said. "I applaud Judge McKathan. It is time for our judiciary to recognize the moral basis of our law."

However much McKathan might value the Ten Commandments and whatever he might think about them, he doesn't have the right to promote and express those beliefs via the uniform of his office. Public officials have very circumscribed rights to express their religious views while fulfilling the duties of their office and it would be very difficult to say that judges have a right to promote the Ten Commandments on a constant, on-going basis like this.

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