To defend the Ten Commandments.

May 9, 2003

Mr. ADERHOLT (for himself, Mr. AKIN, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. BEAUPREZ, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. BONNER, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. CANNON, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. CHOCOLA, Mr. CRANE, Mr. DELAY, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. FEENEY, Mr. GOODE, Mr. GOODLATTE, Ms. HART, Mr. HAYES, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. HERGER, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mr. ISTOOK, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. KLINE, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mrs. MUSGRAVE, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. OTTER, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. PENCE, Mr. PITTS, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. RYUN of Kansas, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. TERRY, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. VITTER, Mr. WAMP, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr. WICKER, and Mr. WILSON of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

To defend the Ten Commandments.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Ten Commandments Defense Act of 2003'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds the following:

(1) The Declaration of Independence declares that governments are instituted to secure certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, with which all human beings are endowed by their Creator and to which they are entitled by the laws of nature and of nature's God.

(2) The organic laws of the United States Code and the constitutions of every State, using various expressions, recognize God as the source of the blessings of liberty.

(3) The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States secures rights against laws respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof made by the United States Government.

(4) The rights secured under the first amendment have been interpreted by courts of the United States Government to be included among the provisions of the fourteenth amendment.

(5) The tenth amendment reserves to the States respectively the powers not delegated to the United States Government nor prohibited to the States.

(6) Disputes and doubts have arisen with respect to public displays of the Ten Commandments and to other public expression of religious faith.

(7) Section 5 of the fourteenth amendment grants the Congress power to enforce the provisions of the said amendment.

(8) Article I, section 8, grants the Congress power to constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court, and article III, section 1, grants the Congress power to ordain and establish courts in which the judicial power of the United States Government shall be vested.

SEC. 3. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY RIGHTS DECLARED.

(a) DISPLAY OF TEN COMMANDMENTS- The power to display the Ten Commandments on or within property owned or administered by the several States or political subdivisions thereof is hereby declared to be among the powers reserved to the States respectively.

(b) EXPRESSION OF RELIGIOUS FAITH- The expression of religious faith by individual persons on or within property owned or administered by the several States or political subdivisions thereof is hereby--

(1) declared to be among the rights secured against laws respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise of religion made or enforced by the United States Government or by any department or executive or judicial officer thereof; and

(2) declared to be among the liberties of which no State shall deprive any person without due process of law made in pursuance of powers reserved to the States respectively.

(c) EXERCISE OF JUDICIAL POWER- The courts constituted, ordained, and established by the Congress shall exercise the judicial power in a manner consistent with the foregoing declarations.

END