8th Circuit Applies Van Orden

An en banc opinion issued yesterday by the US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of the display of a Ten Commandments monument in a public park in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. The case is ACLU Nebraska Foundation v. City of Plattsmouth. A three-judge panel of the same court had earlier by a 2-1 vote found the monument impermissible. The monument, donated to the city in 1965 by the Fraternal Order of Eagles, was virtually identical to the one upheld by the US Supreme court in Van Orden v. Perry earlier this year. The Associated Press yesterday reported on the decision.