Groups Ask Federal Judge in Little Rock to Set Schedule for Trial Over Ten Commandments Monument

On Tuesday, December 27, the groups who are suing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the Arkansas Capitol Building grounds filed a motion with U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker asking her to set a briefing schedule for the lawsuit.

The motion notes that the lawsuit over the Ten Commandments monument has languished in Judge Baker’s court in Little Rock since 2018 and that she has not outlined a schedule for resolving the case.

This is at least the second time that Judge Baker has been asked to set a briefing schedule in the Ten Commandments lawsuit.

The Arkansas Legislature passed a measure in 2015 authorizing a privately-funded monument of the Ten Commandments on the State Capitol Building grounds.

The authorized monument is identical to one ruled constitutional at the capitol building in Texas.

Shortly after the monument was unveiled, atheist groups and the Satanic Temple joined a lawsuit to have it removed.

The case originally was set to go to trial in July of 2020, but the trial was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lawsuit has remained in limbo ever since.

As we have said for years, 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 the laws in countries around the world.

Arkansas’ monument simply honors that legacy.

Lawsuit Over Arkansas’ Ten Commandments Monument Remains in Limbo

The lawsuit over Arkansas’ monument of the Ten Commandments is still languishing in federal court.

The Arkansas Legislature passed a measure in 2015 authorizing the privately-funded monument on the State Capitol Building grounds.

Shortly after it was unveiled in 2018, atheist groups and the Satanic Temple joined a lawsuit to have the monument removed.

The case originally was set to go to trial in July of 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is unclear when the federal court in Little Rock intends to resolve the case.

In September the plaintiffs and defendants in the lawsuit both asked U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker to establish a schedule that would allow the lawsuit to go to trial by June 5, 2023.

As of Thursday, the court does not seem to have granted or denied that request.

As we have written before, Arkansas’ monument of the Ten Commandments is identical to one the U.S. Supreme Court ruled constitutional in Texas in 2005.

There just 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 the laws in countries around the world.

Arkansas’ monument simply honors that legacy.