The 10 Commandments

In a decision that should not have surprised me, but somewhat did after a series of more hopeful articles, the United States Supreme Court voted 5-4 to ban the display of the 10 Commandments in courtrooms. Somehow, their own frieze is "neutral" and thus allowable.[1] I am not really sure how that logic works.

Particularly puzzling to me is how, given the decidedly religious bent of our founding documents, from the Declaration of Independence with its references to a Creator, to the letters of all the founding fathers, Justice Souter found that the Constitution mandates neutrality not just between religions, but between religion and "nonreligion."[1] It is thus at all surprising that there was a dissent from Justices Scalia and Thomas (and obviously others, 5-4 after all), who take different views on originalism, but both come down as originalists.

[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062700416_pf.html