On Wednesday the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of seven families in Northwest Arkansas to block a new state law placing the Ten Commandments in schools and public buildings across the state.
Some years ago Arkansas passed a law requiring a copy of the national motto, “In God We Trust” to be displayed in public schools and other public buildings.
Act 573 of 2025 by Sen. Jim Dotson (R — Bentonville) and Rep. Alyssa Brown (R — Heber Springs) requires a historical copy of the Ten Commandments to be displayed as well.
Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that items that are important to our nation’s history — like the Ten Commandments or the national motto — may be honored and recognized publicly without running afoul of the First Amendment.
The Ten Commandments are one of the earliest examples of the rule of law in human history, and they have had a profound impact in shaping America’s concept of the rule of law as well.
Act 573 simply recognizes their significance. The measure received strong support in the Arkansas Legislature earlier this year, and the governor signed it into law on April 14. Act 573 is slated to take effect later this summer.
However, on Wednesday the ACLU sued the Fayetteville School District, the Springdale School District, the Bentonville School District, and the Siloam Springs School District to block Act 573.
The ACLU’s lawsuit claims,
“Permanently posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library—rendering them unavoidable—unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture. It also sends the harmful and religiously divisive message that students who do not subscribe to the Ten Commandments—or, more precisely, to the specific version of the Ten Commandments that Act 573 requires schools to display—do not belong in their own school community and pressures them to refrain from expressing any faith practices or beliefs that are not aligned with the state’s religious preferences.”
Hanging a copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall of a school or library does not “pressure” anyone, and it certainly is not “harmful” or “divisive.”
Besides being culturally and historically significant, copies of the Ten Commandments have often appeared in artwork at courthouses and similar locations around the country.
During her testimony in support of Act 573 last April, Rep. Alyssa Brown noted that the U.S. Supreme Court 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.
