A district judge ruled Monday to block Arkansas’s new law mandating the Ten Commandments be hung in classrooms in four school districts.
U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks, an appointee of former President Obama, ruled the law could not be applied to some of the largest school districts in the state, but dozens of others will still be required to hang the posters as the academic year begins.
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“These states view the past decade of rulings by the Supreme Court on religious displays in public spaces as a signal that the Court would be open to revisiting its precedent on religious displays in the public-school context,” he added.
The law, similar to those challenged in Louisiana and Texas, says the Ten Commandments must be displayed in easily readable letters in every public school classroom.
The laws in Texas and Louisiana have been blocked by the court, but both states are also fighting back.
“Public schools are not Sunday schools,” said Heather Weaver, senior counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.
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The ACLU, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation filed the lawsuit on behalf of a group of families. It is unclear if the groups will fight for a broader injunction of the law for all Arkansas public schools.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, in a statement, said, “I am reviewing the court’s order and assessing our legal options.”
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* Original Article:
https://thehill.com/homenews/education/5436384-arkansas-ten-commandments-blocked-4-school-districts/