From the Arkansas Advocate:
A federal judge on Monday permanently blocked six Arkansas school districts from enforcing a state law requiring displays of the Ten Commandments, declaring the 2025 measure unconstitutional.
Seven families of various religious and nonreligious backgrounds filed the original lawsuit last June against the Fayetteville, Springdale, Bentonville and Siloam Springs school districts. They argued that Act 573 of 2025, which requires public schools to “prominently” display a “historical representation” of the Ten Commandments in classrooms and libraries, was unconstitutional because it violated their First Amendment rights.
The Conway and Lakeside school districts were later added as defendants in the case, and U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks previously granted preliminary injunctions in all six districts.
The plain text of the law does not suggest other documents be posted along the Ten Commandments for educational reasons, Brooks wrote in Monday’s 26-page order. That’s because the lawmakers intended the posters to hang in every classroom without regard to the class’ subject matter, students’ ages or other material consideration, he said.
“Nothing could possibly justify hanging the Ten Commandments—with or without historical context—in a calculus, chemistry, French, or woodworking class, to name a few,” Brooks wrote. “And the words ‘curriculum,’ ‘school board,’ ‘teacher,’ or ‘educate’ don’t appear anywhere in Act 573. Accordingly, there is no need to strain our minds to imagine a constitutional display mandated by Act 573. One doesn’t exist.”
The ACLU of Arkansas praised Brooks’ decision in a social media post Monday afternoon.
“Public schools cannot promote or impose religious doctrine on students,” the statement reads. “Today’s decision affirms a core constitutional principle: the government must remain neutral on matters of faith, and every student deserves to learn in a classroom free from religious coercion.”
The Arkansas attorney general is reviewing the opinion and will appeal, spokesperson Jeff LeMaster said.
Similar Ten Commandments laws have been challenged in court in other states, including in Texas and Louisiana. School districts in Louisiana are grappling with complying with their state’s law after a court order that prevented it from taking effect was vacated in February.
The decision on Louisiana’s law was made by the full U.S. 5th Circuit of Appeals. Arkansas’ case would go to the 8th Circuit.
