Another short memo by Supreme Court nominee John Roberts on church-state issues has surfaced in the over 5,000 pages of documents released earlier this week by the National Archives. (See earlier posting.) The documents cover the period during which Roberts served as Associate Counsel to President Reagan. An article in today's Kentucky Post says that Roberts advised the President in 1985 not to endorse a movement to require Kentucky public schools to hang plaques inscribed with the national motto "In God We Trust", as well as the Preamble to the Kentucky Constitution which mentions God.
Roberts wrote: "It would be inappropriate for the president to interfere in the consideration of this resolution by the Kentucky legislature by sending a message of support." Roberts said that the proposed resolution raised the same Establishment Clause concerns that led the Supreme Court in 1980 in Stone v. Graham to hold that Kentucky public schools could not be required to post copies of the Ten Commandments. "The president should not gratuitously opine on the constitutionality of this specific resolution," he concluded.
