U.S. District Judge James Parker just passed a law that would require New Mexico city to remove a historical monument that has the Ten Commandments inscribed on them.
He passed the law in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union that claims that the monument is the same as the government forcing religion on the people and that the monument has the “principal effect of endorsing religion.”
Parker claimed that Bloomfield clearly violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. He gave a Sept. 10 deadline for the historical monument’s removal.
Yet, it seems his decision was decided in an unusually quick manner;
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The suit was filed in 2012 on behalf of two Bloomfield residents who practice the Wiccan religion. But just this past Friday, a close attorney was charged with bribing other federal judges.
Democratic Rep. Jose Santiago “Jim” Solis, 47, served seven terms representing the Rio Grande Valley in the House pleaded guilty Friday to extortion after admitting to paying a disgraced South Texas judge for favorable rulings.
Solis pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting extortion by former state District Judge Abel Limas, the U.S. attorney’s office in Brownsville said in a statement.
Prosecutors say Solis was one of many attorneys who paid for favorable pretrial rulings from Limas.
It now appears that Solis also had very close affiliations with both District Judge Parker, as well as having strong ties to the American Civil Liberties Union. It is not know for sure at this point whether or not Solis paid off Judge Parker to have the 10 commandment statue removed, but it certainly seems likely.
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