Arkansas school districts blocked from displaying Ten Commandments

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: USA Today

March 16, 2026 Updated March 17, 2026, 5:46 p.m. ET


A federal judge has permanently blocked several Arkansas school districts from implementing a state law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments.

Citing a landmark 1962 U.S. Supreme Court opinion over prayer in public schools, U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks ruled March 16 that the state "may have lost sight of the fact that 'a union of government and religion tends to destroy government and to degrade religion'" in passing Arkansas Act 573.

The displays would violate students' and parents’ First Amendment rights, he said. The First Amendment bars the government from "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

"The law serves no educational purpose, as the State admits, and consequently deprives Plaintiffs of their rights," Brooks wrote.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/03/16/arkansas-school-districts-ten-commandments-lawsuit/89188310007/

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Link to ACLU Arkansas PRESS RELEASE - Court Permanently Blocks Arkansas Law Requiring Ten Commandments in Every Public School Classroom and Library

Link to ORDER (PDF viewer) - https://www.acluarkansas.org/cases/stinson-v-fayetteville-school-district-no-1/?document=Order-Granting-Summary-Judgment#documents

Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://www.acluarkansas.org/app/uploads/2025/06/188-Order-granting-summary-judgment-to-plaintiffs.pdf

[OldBaldy1701E]

1. Given the precedent set over the last year, I suspect some will post them anyway.

They know that they have the orange gibbon on their side when it comes to crap like this.

Who is going to stop them?

[JT45242]

3. Only the fear of a lawsuit claiming emotional damage and pain and suffering

Which they would bet is a low likelihood and low dollar amount risk.

[twodogsbarking]

2. .......

[Dr. T]

4. Sure. Put the 10 commandments in class rooms.

It will stop mass school shootings.


Seriously, what do these deranged radical religious zealots hope to accomplish with the 10? Intimidation and alienation of the non-christian kids?

[GiqueCee]

6. BINGO!

The Christian Nationalists' wet dream is of a theocracy in which all other religions are banned. Sympathizers in government are setting the stage by constantly referring to America as a "Christian nation". It is not, and never has been. The Founding Fathers were quite vociferous in their rejection of that erroneous description of the country they worked, fought, and died – to create.
These malevolent cretins mistook the novel, A Handmaid's Tale, for an instruction manual.

[Submariner]

5. Posting the 10 commandments could lead to

some interesting questions from the students.

"Teacher, teacher....shouldn't that pedo Trump be burning in HELL, just for the act of actively trying to break the last 6 commandments every day of his life?"

The Ten Commandments

1-I am the Lord thy God. Thou shall not have strange gods before Me.
2-Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
3-Remember to keep holy the Lord's day.
4-Honor thy father and mother.
5-Thou shall not kill.
6-Thou shall not commit adultery.
7-Thou shall not steal.
8-Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
9-Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife.
10-Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's goods.

[lastlib]

7. For that matter.......

..there isn't a SINGLE ONE he has kept!

[Farmer-Rick]

8. Freedom of religion

Requires freedom from religion.

These are the people who fought back in Arkansas:

"Several civil liberties groups − Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, the ACLU, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation − and the New York-based law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP are representing the plaintiffs, a group of multifaith families with children in Arkansas public schools."

A lot of Christians in the US are bullying those who don't fight back.

Don't tell me atheists never did anything good for others.

[Dr. T]

9. The Freedom From Religion Foundation does some good work.

[Grins]

10. ""The law serves no educational purpose, AS THE STATE ADMITS..."

And there it is! The law was political. Aimed at keeping the prejudices of constituents.

Further, the state was was not the defendant in this case, it was an intervenor.* And just as bad,

Jeff LeMaster, Griffin’s communications director, said the office was “reviewing the opinion and will appeal.”

You haven't completed a review but announced you will appeal? Again proving the case was political.

The decision: https://www.au.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Summary-Judgment-Stinson-v.-Fayetteville-SD-No.-1-3.16.26.pdf

* Intervenor: A third party not in the lawsuit who voluntarily enters a legal proceeding because it has a personal stake or significant interest in the outcome.

[mdbl]

11. It's 2026 and we are fighting bullshit settled 250 years ago

Only in an idiocracy like the U.S.

[Blue Full Moon]

12. Shouldn't so called Christians be putting

The beattitudes instead of the 10 commandments.

[twodogsbarking]

13. Just show the list of commandments Trump has not broken.

Commandments Trump has not broken:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Perfect record.

[twodogsbarking]

14. Which commandment says you cannot be gay or trans or Democrat?