More on monuments

[Howard Vogel]

If my recollection serves me correctly, the last time I entered the Cass County Court House in Northern Minnesota in the City of Walker on the Southwest shore of Leech Lake (a big lake, even by Minnesota standards) I spotted a plaque at the entrance with the Ten Commandments placed there some years ago by some local community service organization.

Howard Vogel
Hamline University

>>> Sanford Levinson <slevinson at MAIL.LAW.UTEXAS.EDU> 11/05 3:38 PM >>>
As I was giving a visitor to UT a tour of the state capitol a little while
ago, I noticed, for the first time, a monument containing the text of the
Ten Commandments, given "to the people of Texas" by the Fraternal Order of
Eagles and placed on the lawn in front of the Supreme Court.  It is not my
impression that the lawn is a public forum, nor is there any disclaimer
that the monument speaks only for the Eagles and not the people of Texas
whose property it is occupying.

Let me ask the question I often ask my students:  whom would you rather
represent on a contingent-fee basis, the State of Texas or the curmudgeon
like myself who is perturbed by the placement of the monument?  Do any of
you know of similar monument occupying such visible (and clearly
significant) public space?

Sandy Levinson
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