Two lawsuits seek removal of Ten Commandments monument from Arkansas Capitol grounds

The second effort to remove the Ten Commandments monument from the Arkansas State Capitol grounds is decidedly less violent. Two separate complaints were filed Wednesday (May 23) in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Arkansas asking the court to deem the monument unconstitutional.

A second Ten Commandments monument was installed in late 2017. The 6,000-pound monument is 44 inches wide and 78 inches tall. The monument was made possible by Act 1231, which was created during the 2015 Arkansas General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway. Rapert also serves as president of the American History & Heritage Foundation, which was instrumental in raising money for the monument’s construction and placement.

In late June 2017, Michael Tate Reed of Van Buren ran over the first Ten Commandments monument installed on the Capitol grounds. He was arrested by Little Rock police and charged with defacing an object of public interest, criminal trespass and mischief. At the time, Reed posted a live Facebook video – no longer available – of the incident. In the video, Reed says, “Oh my goodness. Freedom!” before accelerating his black Dodge Dart from zero to more than 20 miles an hour into the monument.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas filed its complaint representing four women – Donna Cave, Judith Lansky, Pat Piazza, and Susan Russell – who allege the monument violates the First Amendment’s protection of religious liberty. The women are members of a walking and cycling club “whose regular routes include the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol, where they are now confronted with the Ten Commandments monument,” noted the ACLU statement. The statement also said three of the women are agnostic and one is an atheist.

“The courts have been clear that the First Amendment protects religious freedom and prohibits the government from engaging in this kind of overt and heavy-handed religious favoritism,” Rita Sklar, ACLU of Arkansas executive director, said in the statement. “By endorsing a specific set of religious beliefs on government property, Arkansas politicians are violating the constitutional rights of the people they’re supposed to serve.”

The American Humanist Association (AHA), and the Freedom From Religion Foundation also filed Wednesday a complaint alleging the monument is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and should be removed.

“Objections to the placement of the Ten Commandments monument were voiced at public hearings by certain Christians, Jews, and other persons of faith, as well as by secularists and non-believers,” noted part of the legal filing. “Persons making comments explained clearly why the proposed display favored particular religious beliefs and as a result violated the Constitutions of the United States of America and the State of Arkansas. Notwithstanding those objections and comments, state actors went forward with their plan to erect a Ten Commandments monument on the State Capitol Grounds.”

Joining this complaint is the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers and individuals Joan Dietz, Gale Stewart, Rabbi Eugene Levy, Rev. Victor Nixon, Teresa Grider and Walter Riddick.

“This monument has been controversial from its inception, because it is a divisive display that favors certain religious beliefs over others,” David Niose, legal director for the American Humanist Association, said in a statement. “Government should not be in the business of promoting particular religious views.”

RAPERT REACTION
In a statement sent to Talk Business & Politics, Rapert said the two complaints are a “war on the Ten Commandments.”

“Today I was informed that several anti-American organizations have filed two federal lawsuits basically declaring their own war on the Arkansas Ten Commandments Monument and ACT 1231. I was proud to sponsor ACT 1231 which passed with an overwhelming majority by the Arkansas legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Asa Hutchinson in 2015. I am encouraged that Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and her office are prepared to defend the people of Arkansas and the Ten Commandments Monument which honors part of the historical and moral foundation law. If the Ten Commandments are good enough to be displayed in the United States Supreme Court Chamber and other state capitol grounds in Texas and around our nation, then they are good enough to be displayed in Arkansas. I look forward to a vigorous defense of the law in Arkansas.”

Rapert said the monument acknowledges that the “Ten Commandments are an important component to the foundation of the laws and legal system of the United States of America and of the State of Arkansas.”

Rapert also said he has “full confidence” that Rutledge and First Liberty, a Plano, Texas-based nonprofit that provides legal support to those who believe their rights to practice religion are threatened, will successfully defend against the two complaints.

“It is time for the people of this nation to stand together and defend our history and heritage. I am committed to defending this law, I am committed to defending the U.S. Constitution and I am committed to defending the Ten Commandments Monument,” Rapert said.

Rapert also said he is considering a lawsuit against the parties, claiming the language used in the lawsuits included attacks on “my own personal freedom of speech.”