Throughout the 1950s, the Fraternal Order of the Eagles donated plaques inscribed with a version of the Ten Commandments to communities across the United States. In 1958, one of the plaques was placed on the Indiana Statehouse grounds in downtown Indianapolis. In 1991, it was smashed by a vandal.
Indiana State Representative Brent Steele wanted to replace the plaque with a new monument, but, in addition to the Ten Commandments, he also wanted to include historical texts. He chose the Bill of Rights from the United States Constitution and the Preamble to the 1851 Indiana Constitution. The final monument was seven feel tall, weighed over 11,000 pounds, featured the Decalogue on one side, the Bill of Rights on the other, and had the preamble to the state constitution etched on its side. In May of 2000, however, plaintiffs filed suit, claiming that the monument violated the Establishment Clause.
A district court granted the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction because it found that their case was strong enough that it would likely succeed. The court said that the monument appeared to advance religion because the state had not demonstrated any real historical link between the Ten Commandments and the current governmental system (violating the first prong of the Lemon Test). The court also held that the placement of the monument on public grounds, along with its shape and size, appeared to give the Ten Commandments a “stamp of government approval.”
The state appealed the 7th Circuit Court, asking that the injunction be thrown out, but the court refused and agreed with the lower district court.
