House Bill Would Withhold Funds For Removal of 10 Commandments In Indiana

In January 2005, a federal district court ordered a 10 commandments monument removed from the Gibson County court house lawn in Princeton, Indiana. Now, in order to thwart that ruling, a provision has been placed in the Department of Justice's appropriation bill by a vote of the House of Representatives last Wednesday to prohibit the US Marshals Service from using any funds to carry out the court order. In reporting on this development today, the Mt. Carmel Republican Daily Register quotes Indiana Congressman John Hostettler, who had sponsored the of the legislation, as saying: "The Founders certainly never intended for federal court rulings that violate Americans' rights to be blindly funded and enforced by the other two branches. The bill we passed today employs the Legislature's power of the purse to check a federal court that's attempting to turn a constitutional right into a constitutional prohibition."