Ruling blocks posting of Ten Commandments in six Arkansas public schools

A ruling issued Monday (March 16) by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Brooks permanently blocks six Arkansas school districts from posting a framed copy of the Ten Commandments in school libraries and classrooms.

Act 573, approved by the Arkansas Legislature in 2025 and signed into law by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders, required all public school districts to display a 16-inch-by-20-inch durable poster or framed copy of the King James Version of the Ten Commandments in each public school library and classroom. The law says the text must be legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the room.

The law mandates that displays be donated or purchased with private funds. It allows schools to use public funds or a private donation to replace a version that does not meet the law’s requirements with one that does.

Brooks, the senior judge in Arkansas’ Western District, temporarily halted implementation of the law in the Fayetteville, Springdale, Bentonville and Siloam Springs school districts after parents from those districts sought an injunction. After that August 2025 ruling, parents from the Conway and Lakeside school districts joined the action.

Monday’s ruling from Brooks blocks the Ten Commandments from being posted in the six district. Brooks said said the law, if enacted, would “violate the Establishment Clause rights of all Arkansas public-school children and their parents.”

“Act 573 must be permanently enjoined. Failing to do so would violate the Establishment Clause rights of all Arkansas public-school children and their parents and also violate Plaintiffs’ Free Exercise rights,” Brooks noted in the ruling. “The law serves no educational purpose, as the State admits, and consequently deprives Plaintiffs of their rights. Such deprivations, ‘even for minimal periods of time, constitute irreparable injury.’”

Samantha and Jonathan Stinson were among the parents who sought to block Act 573. They have children in the Fayetteville Public School District.

“Act 573 is a direct infringement of our religious-freedom rights, and we’re pleased that the court ruled in our favor,” Samantha Stinson said in a statement. “The version of the Ten Commandments mandated by Act 573 conflicts with our family’s Jewish tenets and practice, and our belief that our children should receive their religious instruction at home and within our faith community, not from government officials.”

Arguments from attorneys with the Arkansas Attorney General’s office included that the law was no different than posting a religious monument on public grounds.

“We are reviewing the opinion and will appeal,” said Jeff LeMaster, communications director for Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin.

Link here for a copy of the ruling.