County judge dismisses lawsuit challenging Ten Commandments monument at Oklahoma Capitol

Published November 23, 2015

File - This June 20, 2014 file photo is the Ten Commandments monument at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City. The privately funded monument on the grounds of the Oklahoma Capitol does not violate the state constitution and can stay there, an Oklahoma County judge said Friday, Sept. 19, 2014 in a ruling that attorneys who filed the lawsuit in question vowed to appeal to the state Supreme Court. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File) (The Associated Press)

An Oklahoma County judge has dismissed a lawsuit that challenges a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state Capitol.

District Judge Thomas Prince granted Friday the motion filed by the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission.

The lawsuit alleged the monument violates the state constitution's ban against using public property to support "any sect, church, denomination or system of religion."

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, which filed the lawsuit last year, say they will appeal to the state Supreme Court.

The 6-foot-tall granite monument was authorized by the Legislature in 2009 and built in November 2012 after Republican state Rep. Mike Ritze and his family paid nearly $10,000 for it.

The monument has led other groups to seek their own, such as a statue of Satan.

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