Lawmakers hear support, questions for bill to place Ten Commandments monument on State House grounds

Delegate Rick Metzger told the Health and Government Operations Committee that House Bill 14-72 would authorize placement of a Ten Commandments monument on the Maryland State House grounds and said it would recognize the document’s historical influence on Western legal tradition.

Metzger said he had letters of support from several faith groups and from the National Association of Christian Legislators and argued historical precedent, noting Ten Commandments imagery appears in and around the U.S. Supreme Court building and many state capitols. He told the committee the monument would be privately funded and would not cost taxpayers beyond a $4,000 physical‑note estimate.

Witnesses who testified in favor included Paul McCosby, an attorney with the Maryland Family Institute, who said commemorative displays acknowledging the Ten Commandments are “common throughout America” and cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 Van Orden v. Perry decision as legal precedent permitting certain historical displays. McCosby pointed to existing statuary and memorials at the State House and suggested a Ten Commandments memorial would be a cultural addition to the grounds.

Committee members did not take a final vote in the hearing. Questions focused on legal precedent and whether private funding and the proposed text and placement would avoid Establishment Clause concerns. Metzger said supporters expected to pay privately for the monument and repeatedly framed the proposal as recognition of historical influence rather than an attempt to establish a faith. The committee recessed pending further consideration.