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‘The Keys to Americanism’ displays now given to 59 of 95 Tennessee sheriffs’ offices

Staff photo by Ben Benton / Dayton, Tenn., resident June Griffin sits beside a display she gives to any Tennessee sheriff who asks for one at her home on Aug. 12, 2022. Griffin said 59 sheriff's offices over the past two decades, including a recent surge of about 20, have requested one of the displays, which contain copies of the Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
Staff photo by Ben Benton / Dayton, Tenn., resident June Griffin sits beside a display she gives to any Tennessee sheriff who asks for one at her home on Aug. 12, 2022. Griffin said 59 sheriff's offices over the past two decades, including a recent surge of about 20, have requested one of the displays, which contain copies of the Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Staff photo by Ben Benton / Dayton, Tenn., resident June Griffin sits beside a display she gives to any Tennessee sheriff who asks for one at her home on Aug. 12, 2022. Griffin said 59 sheriff's offices over the past two decades, including a recent surge of about 20, have requested one of the displays, which contain copies of the Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

By Ben Benton 7 min read

DAYTON, Tenn. – Rhea County, Tennessee, resident June Griffin, who crisscrossed the state 20 years ago urging officials in all 95 counties to pass resolutions allowing them to post the Ten Commandments in county courthouses, says she has renewed interest from Tennessee sheriffs in a similar effort.

Over the past two decades, including a recent boom of about 20 requests, 59 of the state’s 95 sheriff’s offices now have received one of her displays, which she calls “The Keys to Americanism.” Each one contains copies of the Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, said Griffin, an 83-year-old conservative political activist, constitutionalist and minister.

This latest effort, she said, is an outgrowth of work she started in 1997 to restore the right to post the Ten Commandments in Tennessee county courthouses. In 2002, then-Tennessee Attorney General Paul Summers issued an opinion that a display of the Ten Commandments in courthouses violated the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause regarding the separation of church and state.

Griffin said 88 of 95 counties at that time adopted resolutions anyway, allowing county officials to post the Ten Commandments if they wanted.

Now, the three-document displays she started having made around 2003 for sheriffs are drawing more requests, Griffin said Friday at her home in Dayton.