Tennessee A.G. opposes commandments displays. (Around The States).

Critics of government-sponsored religion were bolstered by an announcement from Tennessee's attorney general that Ten Commandments displays on public property are unconstitutional.

On April 3, state Attorney General Paul Summers (D) issued a statement on the subject after the Administrative Office of the Courts, which represents all Tennessee judges, requested a formal advisory opinion.

Summers wrote that state-sponsored religious displays violate the First Amendment's separation of church and state, because they have no "discernible secular purpose."

The opinion was particularly relevant in light of several ongoing controversies over the Commandments in Tennessee. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, over half of Tennessee's 95 counties have endorsed proposals to display the biblical laws in public buildings, including courthouses.

This was the second time in six years that a Tennessee attorney general was asked for a formal opinion on public sponsorship of the Decalogue. In 1996, the state legislature considered a bill to encourage schools, individual homes and private businesses to post the Ten Commandments, and asked then-Attorney General Charles Burson for guidance. Like Summers, Burson said the proposal was unconstitutional.