A decades-long legal fight over a Ten Commandments monument at the Indiana Statehouse is back in federal court.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced November 9 that his office recently filed a motion for summary judgment, seeking to end a 26-year dispute and allow the monument to be placed on the Statehouse lawn.
The monument features the Ten Commandments, the Bill of Rights and the preamble to the Indiana Constitution.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, a similar monument stood on Statehouse grounds for more than 30 years before being vandalized and damaged in 1991.
The state later accepted a replacement donated by the Indiana Limestone Institute, but courts blocked its installation in 2000.
Rokita’s office argues that subsequent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have changed the legal standards used to evaluate religious monuments on government property. The office cited a decision upholding a Ten Commandments display at the Texas Capitol.
Rokita said he believes the monument should be displayed at the Statehouse and that his office intends to continue pursuing the case.
Joseph Davis, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and an attorney representing Indiana, also expressed support for the state’s efforts.
The replacement monument currently remains in Bedford, Indiana. If the legal effort succeeds, the state intends to place it near its originally planned location on the Statehouse lawn.
The Attorney General’s announcement did not report a ruling on the latest motion.