Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office has appealed to the 8th Circuit to keep a monument of the Ten Commandments on the State Capitol Building grounds.
In 2015 the Arkansas General Assembly passed a law authorizing a privately funded monument of the Ten Commandments at the Capitol Building in Little Rock, and the monument was finally unveiled three years later. But almost immediately, atheist groups filed a lawsuit to remove the monument from the Capitol grounds. That lawsuit languished in federal court until March 31, when a judge ruled against the monument.
However, Attorney General Tim Griffin has appealed that bad decision to the judges at the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals process so far has been scheduled to take the rest of the spring a good portion of the summer.
Historians have long recognized the Ten Commandments as one of the earliest examples of the rule of law in human history, and they have helped shape philosophy and laws in countries around the world.
That’s why the Ten Commandments traditionally have appeared in artwork at courthouses and other public buildings.
Arkansas’ monument commemorates that same historical and cultural legacy. It’s also identical to a monument the U.S. Supreme Court ruled constitutional at the Texas Capitol Building in 2005. With that in mind, we believe our federal courts ultimately will uphold Arkansas’ Ten Commandments monument as constitutional.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
