Ten Commandments Blurred In Pennsylvania Supreme Court Photo

The Associated Press reports that in Pennsylvania, Allegheny County Judge Cynthia A. Baldwin found herself in the middle of a dispute not of her making during hearings on her nomination to fill an unexpired term on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. One of four murals by artist Violet Oakley in the courtroom of the state Supreme Court is The Decalogue - Hebrew Idea of Revealed Law. In a brochure about the supreme court, a photo of the justices at the bench has a blurred background that hides the Ten Commandments in that mural. A separate photo of the mural is printed clearly elsewhere in the same brochure, along with the other Oakley paintings. At the confirmation hearing, Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, (R-Dauphin) asked Judge Baldwin to to prevent the painting from again being blurred out in any updated court portrait. Supreme Court officials said that the brochure was produced while the Ten Commandments cases were pending in the U.S. Supreme Court. The blurring of the mural was decided on so that later the court would not find itself in the position of having to destroy copies of the brochure.