A Ten Commandments monument has been formally reinstalled on the grounds of the Kentucky State Capitol.
The restoration was announced on Wednesday by First Liberty, a legal organization that advocates for religious freedom.
“We congratulate the people of Kentucky for restoring a part of their history,” said Roger Byron, senior counsel for First Liberty. “There is a long tradition of public monuments like this one that recognize the unique and important role the Ten Commandments have played in state and national history.”
State lawmakers approved a resolution in March directing that the monument be restored, reviving an effort that had remained stalled for decades.
The monument was originally donated to the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1971 by the Fraternal Order of Eagles and stood on the Capitol grounds until the 1980s, when it was removed during a construction project.
Although legislators passed a measure in 2000 calling for the monument’s permanent return near the Capitol’s floral clock, a federal appeals court later blocked the move. That ruling relied on the so-called Lemon test, a legal standard once used to evaluate Establishment Clause cases.
The legal landscape shifted after the U.S. Supreme Court moved away from the Lemon framework, most notably in The American Legion v. American Humanist Association, commonly known as the Bladensburg Peace Cross case.
The Court later fully repudiated the Lemon test in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, directing that the Establishment Clause be interpreted according to original meaning, history and tradition.
