Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said Tuesday that the Ten Commandments monument is staying put at the capitol, despite a recent state Supreme Court ruling that it violated the state constitution and therefore must be removed.
"At this time, Attorney General Scott Pruitt, with my support, has filed a petition requesting a rehearing of the Ten Commandments case," she said,
according to Tulsa World.
"Additionally, our legislature has signaled its support for pursuing changes to our state constitution that will make it clear the Ten Commandments monument is legally permissible. If legislative efforts are successful, the people of Oklahoma will get to vote on the issue."
A spokesperson for Fallin told inquiring reporters that the ruling will not be ignored indefinitely, but that the governor will keep the statue on the capitol grounds while the other branches of government have their say.
The spokesperson said further that no district court order has been issued to remove the monument at this time, and declined to say if the governor would refuse one should it be issued.
State legislators have recently filed a bill that could remove Article II, Section 5 of the constitution, the part that the court used in its decision.
It reads: "No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, which was part of the court case, said that Fallin's announcement to delay the removal of the statue was "unprecedented" and amounted to "political grandstanding."
"We along with no doubt a large number of Oklahomans were astonished at the governor’s reaction and the statement today pretending that she has the authority to enforce the laws of some hypothetical future instead of enforcing the laws as they are today," Ryan Kiesel, the group’s executive director,
told The Washington Post. "Governors do not get a blank check to make up the laws as they see fit."
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