In Legal Limbo: The Ten Commandments Case Seems to Have No Exodus
As of this week, the lawsuit over Arkansas’ monument of the Ten Commandments has languished in court for six years and nine months — with no end in sight.
A decade ago, the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 1231 of 2015 by former Sen. Jason Rapert and then-Rep. Kim Hammer.
Act 1231 authorized placement of a privately funded monument of the Ten Commandments on the Arkansas Capitol Building grounds. Forty state legislators co-sponsored this good law, and some of them — including Kim Hammer, who now represents District 16 in the Arkansas Senate — still serve in the General Assembly.
The Ten Commandments monument — which is identical to one the U.S. Supreme Court ruled constitutional at the capitol building in Texas — was unveiled in 2018.
However, it did not take long for atheist groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Satanic Temple to file a lawsuit over the monument.
The case was filed May 23, 2018, and it originally was set to go to trial in July of 2020. But U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker postponed the trial due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, both sides in the lawsuit have asked Judge Baker to resolve the case, but the lawsuit has remained in limbo.
As we have said many times, there shouldn’t be anything controversial about a monument honoring the significance of the Ten Commandments.
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.
Arkansas’ monument simply commemorates that legacy. With that in mind, we believe our federal courts eventually will resolve this lawsuit and uphold Arkansas’ Ten Commandments monument as constitutional.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
Ohio Court Blocks Law Ensuring Dignity for the Unborn
Last week, the A.P. reported a judge in Ohio ruled a law requiring aborted babies to be respectfully buried or cremated violates the state constitution.
In 2023, Ohio voters passed an amendment enshrining abortion in the state constitution. Since then, the ACLU and other pro-abortion groups have filed lawsuits claiming virtually all of Ohio’s laws related to abortion — including informed-consent requirements and medical licensing laws — are unconstitutional.
Ohio’s legislature passed a law five years ago ensuring aborted babies would be respectfully buried or cremated. Laws like these do not restrict or prohibit abortion. They simply outline how aborted babies are supposed to be treated.
Without laws like these, abortionists may sell an aborted baby’s organs to medical researchers or simply incinerate the baby’s remains as if they were medical waste.
The story is a sobering reminder of what happens when states write abortion into their constitutions. Not only is Ohio’s abortion amendment preventing the state from enacting common-sense abortion regulations, but the state can’t even ensure that the bodies of aborted babies are treated with respect.
All of this should concern Arkansas, where pro-abortion groups worked unsuccessfully to place an abortion amendment on the 2024 ballot.
In 2017, the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 603 by then-Rep. Kim Hammer (R — Benton). This good law ensured aborted babies in Arkansas would be respectfully buried or cremated rather than incinerated or sold to research companies.
In response, the ACLU filed a lawsuit to block Act 603 in Arkansas. That case languished in federal court until the ACLU finally dropped the lawsuit following the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Today, abortion in Arkansas is prohibited except to save the life of the mother. And thanks to Act 603 by Rep. Hammer, if an abortion is necessary to save the mother’s life, Arkansas’ law ensures the aborted baby’s body is treated with the same level of respect we show to other human bodies.
If abortion were written into the state constitution, it could jeopardize even very basic requirements for abortionists — including laws like Act 603 that treat aborted babies with dignity.
That’s a very troubling thought.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.