Federal Judge Partially Blocks Law Placing Ten Commandments in Public Schools
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks partially blocked a state law placing copies of the Ten Commandments in Arkansas’ public schools.
Act 573 of 2025 by Sen. Jim Dotson (R — Bentonville) and Rep. Alyssa Brown (R — Heber Springs) requires privately-funded copies of the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools and other public buildings in Arkansas.
The measure received strong support in the Arkansas Legislature earlier this year, and Act 573 is slated to take effect in August.
However, in an effort to block Act 573, lawyers from the ACLU and a group of atheist organizations filed a federal lawsuit against four public school districts:
- The Fayetteville School District
- The Springdale School District
- The Bentonville School District
- The Siloam Springs School District
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin has intervened in the case as well, and his office is defending Act 573.
Act 573 was set to take effect Tuesday, but Judge Brooks blocked the four school districts from complying with the law. Act 573 still applies to other school districts in Arkansas that are not part of the lawsuit.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks made a shocking claim about Act 573 and the legislature’s reason for enacting this good law, writing:
“Why would Arkansas pass an obviously unconstitutional law? Most likely because the State is part of a coordinated strategy among several states to inject Christian religious doctrine into public-school classrooms. These states view the past decade of rulings by the Supreme Court on religious displays in public spaces as a signal that the Court would be open to revisiting its precedent on religious displays in the public school context.”
In 2017 Arkansas passed the National Motto Display Act allowing the national motto — “In God We Trust” — to be displayed in Arkansas’ classrooms along with the U.S. flag and the Arkansas flag. Act 573 amended the National Motto Display Act to add the Ten Commandments to the list of historical items displayed in school. Nothing in Act 573 suggests Arkansas’ elected lawmakers are part of a “coordinated strategy” to inject Christianity in public schools. That is an unnecessary attack on the Arkansas Legislature. A state lawmaker might just as easily accuse Judge Brooks of being part of a coordinated strategy among federal judges to keep students from learning about historical documents.
Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states are free to honor and recognize documents or symbols that are important to our nation’s history — like the Ten Commandments or the national motto.
In the court proceedings, Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office pointed out,
As the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized, the Ten Commandments have enormous historical significance “in America’s heritage.” . . . It is therefore beyond serious dispute—and settled by the Supreme Court—that the Ten Commandments have historical significance and are “one of the foundations of our legal system.”
The Ten Commandments are one of the earliest examples of the rule of law, and they have had a profound impact in shaping our society and our government.
During her testimony in support of Act 573 last April, Rep. Alyssa Brown noted that the U.S. Supreme Court now uses a “longstanding history and tradition test” to decide if it is constitutional to display something like a copy of the Ten Commandments. Rep. Brown said, “The Ten Commandments without a doubt will pass this longstanding history and tradition test.”
We believe our federal courts ultimately will agree and uphold Act 573 as constitutional.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
