A federal district judge has partially blocked enforcement of an Arkansas law requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms across the state.
Arkansas Act 573, signed into law by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders earlier this year, requires a donated or privately-purchased copy of the Ten Commandments to be displayed in each “elementary and secondary school library and classroom.”
Texas and Louisiana recently passed similar laws mandating the Ten Commandments be displayed in public school classrooms.
However, shortly after the law was enacted, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and a group of atheist organizations sued four Arkansas school districts in federal court to prevent enforcement of the law.
Judge Timothy Brooks, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas and a nominee of former President Barack Obama, issued the preliminary injunction blocking the law from taking effect in four of the state’s 237 school districts.
“Forty-five years ago, the Supreme Court struck down a Ten Commandments law nearly identical to the one the Arkansas General Assembly passed earlier this year,” Judge Brooks wrote. “That precedent remains binding on this Court and renders Arkansas Act 573 plainly unconstitutional.”
But Judge Brooks didn’t stop there. Shockingly, he chose to speculate on the legislators’ motives for enacting the law, writing: “Why would Arkansas pass an obviously unconstitutional law? Most likely because the State is part of a coordinated strategy among several states to inject Christian religious doctrine into public-school classrooms.”
Judge Brooks is wrong on two counts: The Ten Commandments are not exclusively “Christian religious doctrine.” They are also a very important part of Jewish religion, and they have played an important role in the development of Western Civilization.
The Ten Commandments being displayed in classrooms cannot reasonably be interpreted as a part of a conspiracy to “inject Christian religious doctrine” into schools because the Ten Commandments are not necessarily “Christian” at all.
Arkansas Family Council, a Focus on the Family-allied state family policy council, blasted the judge’s unnecessary speculation.
“In 2017, Arkansas passed the National Motto Display Act allowing the national motto — ‘In God We Trust’ — to be displayed in Arkansas’ classrooms along with the U.S. flag and the Arkansas flag,” the organization recounted. “Act 573 amended the National Motto Display Act to add the Ten Commandments to the list of historical items displayed in school.”
Therefore, the organization argued, “Nothing in Act 573 suggests Arkansas’ elected lawmakers are part of a ‘coordinated strategy’ to inject Christianity in public schools. That is an unnecessary attack on the Arkansas Legislature. A state lawmaker might just as easily accuse Judge Brooks of being part of a coordinated strategy among federal judges to keep students from learning about historical documents.”
In court proceedings, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, who intervened in the case to defend the law, argued, “As the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized, the Ten Commandments have enormous historical significance ‘in America’s heritage.’ . . . It is therefore beyond serious dispute — and settled by the Supreme Court — that the Ten Commandments have historical significance and are ‘one of the foundations of our legal system.'”
Attorney General Griffin said after the ruling, “I am reviewing the court’s order and assessing our legal options.”
The ruling could be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, one of the most conservative appeals courts in the country.
Daily Citizen is a news division of Focus on the Family that provides a faith-based perspective to counter the mainstream media’s anti-Christian bias.
