A federal judge has blocked鈥攊n four districts for now鈥攁n Arkansas law requiring classroom displays of the Ten Commandments, ruling that the measure likely violates the U.S. Constitution and is inconsistent with a 1980 U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The law known as Act 573, which Arkansas lawmakers passed in April, is similar to measures adopted in 2024 by Louisiana and this year by Texas. All generally require displays in every classroom of a version of the Ten Commandments drawn from the King James version of the Bible.
U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks said the Arkansas measure is 鈥渘early identical鈥� to the Kentucky law that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in 1980 in .
鈥淲hy would Arkansas pass an obviously unconstitutional law?鈥� Brooks, an appointee of President Barack Obama, said in his Aug. 4 decision in . 鈥淢ost likely because the state is part of a coordinated strategy among several states to inject Christian religious doctrine into public-school classrooms.鈥�
The Louisiana law was blocked statewide by a federal judge , and in June, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, in New Orleans, . Louisiana has asked the full 5th Circuit court to take up the case.
Meanwhile, the same coalition of groups that have challenged the Louisiana and Arkansas laws鈥攖he American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation鈥�.
Texas, like Louisiana (and Mississippi), is part of the 5th Circuit, so any decision by the appeals court could apply to that state鈥檚 law assuming the court found them substantially similar. (Arkansas, however, is in the 8th Circuit.)
The Arkansas lawsuit named the Fayetteville, Bentonville, Siloam Springs, and Springdale school districts as defendants, but the districts declined to defend the law. That led the state to intervene in support of the measure.
The measure was due to take effect Aug. 5, and it was unclear whether the state planned to require other districts to comply despite the injunction blocking it in the four defendant districts. The state attorney general鈥檚 office declined to elaborate on that question.
鈥淚 am reviewing the court鈥檚 order and assessing our legal options,鈥� Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, a Republican, said in a statement.
Judge says more recent Supreme Court rulings have not undermined 1980 Ten Commandments decision
In his 35-page decision, Brooks said, 鈥淭his case begins and ends with Stone,鈥� the Supreme Court鈥檚 1980 decision involving the similar Kentucky law.
鈥淎蝉 Stone explains, posting the Ten Commandments on a classroom wall 鈥榮erves no educational function,鈥欌�� Brooks wrote, quoting the high court鈥檚 unsigned opinion in the Kentucky case. (The opinion in the 6-3 case was later revealed to have been written by Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Education Week explored the case in an article last year.)
Brooks rejected arguments from the state that more recent Supreme Court decisions, particularly its 2022 ruling in , have undermined Stone.
The Kennedy decision upheld a high school football coach鈥檚 post-game prayers and effectively overruled a key legal test for analyzing government laws and policies with respect to religion and replaced it with one focused on historical practices and understandings.
鈥淏耻迟 Kennedy did not overrule any public-school Establishment Clause cases involving a state鈥檚 or school district鈥檚 imposition of religious doctrine or practices on public-school children,鈥� Brooks said.
Even if the Stone decision did not require the Arkansas law being blocked, Brooks said, the statute could not be saved based on the Kennedy decision鈥檚 historical-practices test.
Brooks credited the testimony and report of the challengers鈥� expert, Steven Green, a professor of history and religious studies at Willamette University in Salem, Ore.
Green argued that the Arkansas law was incompatible with the Founding Fathers鈥� conception of religious liberty and that there is no evidence of a long-standing historical practice of displays of the Ten Commandments in U.S. classrooms.
Brooks concluded that the display of the Ten Commandments in a public school classroom would be 鈥減roblematically coercive.鈥� Even the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision in late June in , which upheld the right of parents with religious objections to remove their children from LGBTQ+ lessons, supported that conclusion, Brooks said.
The Mahmoud decision 鈥渞ecognized the potentially coercive nature of classroom instruction in public schools,鈥� Brooks said. 鈥淥nce students are at school, staff control their movements and often their expression. Students may not move around freely to avoid official religious indoctrination or to contest it beyond certain limits. This is especially true in the classroom context.鈥�
Brooks noted that in contrast with the Louisiana law, which allows districts to use public funds to purchase the Ten Commandments posters, the Arkansas measure largely requires that the displays be donated or funded privately.
The judge noted that the Fayetteville district had recently received a donation of hundreds of Ten Commandments posters, and a number of private groups have offered to raise money and donate such displays to schools.
Lucas Harder, the policy services director and staff attorney of the Arkansas School Boards Association, said in an interview that when the state required the national motto, 鈥淚n God We Trust,鈥� to be displayed in classrooms and libraries in 2017, there were soon donations to every district to help them comply with the law.
Harder said he has received only a handful of questions about the Ten Commandments law, but he expected that may change after the judge鈥檚 ruling and given the fact that the new school year is about to open.
As for whether the non-defendant school districts should comply with the law, Harder said, 鈥淚t would be our understanding that, unless something else changes, [the preliminary injunction] would apply only to the four districts鈥� who were defendants in the case.
He also said there seemed to be little in the way of an enforcement mechanism in the law, but he would advise school districts to consult their lawyers about how best to comply with the statute.
The law鈥檚 challengers encourage all Arkansas districts to follow the injunction
Advocates for the challengers welcomed Brooks鈥� decision.
The ruling 鈥渆nsures that our clients鈥� classrooms will remain spaces where all students, regardless of their faith, feel welcomed and can learn without worrying that they do not live up to the state鈥檚 preferred religious beliefs,鈥� Heather L. Weaver, the senior counsel with the ACLU鈥檚 Program on Religious Freedom and Belief, said in a statement.
Rachel Laser, the president and CEO of Americans United, said the decision 鈥渨ill ensure that Arkansas families鈥攏ot politicians or public school officials鈥攇et to decide how and when their children engage with religion.鈥�
Americans United said it was encouraging all school districts in Arkansas to respect the preliminary injunction, adding that 鈥渁ny district that implements Act 573 will be violating the First Amendment and could be inviting additional litigation.鈥�
