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Appeal Heard In Dispute Over Ten Commandments Monument

https://www.facebook.com/City-of-Bloomfield-NM-160827133956526/timeline/

A New Mexico municipality that wants to keep a 6-foot-tall Ten Commandments monument outside city hall is asking a federal appeals court to overturn a judge's ruling deeming the display unconstitutional.

Attorneys for the city of Bloomfield argue the display is legal because it was privately funded. They'll make their case Wednesday morning before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. Bloomfield is appealing a 2014 federal order to remove the monument on grounds it violates a constitutional ban on using public property to support specific religions.

Two Bloomfield residents who practice the Wiccan religion say the monument offends them. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on their behalf.

In Oklahoma, a Ten Commandments monument outside the Capitol is being removed after the state's high court ruled it unconstitutional in June.

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