Arkansas’ Ten Commandments Monument Law Ruled Unconstitutional

An Arkansas law mandating a monument displaying the Ten Commandments be placed on the grounds of the state Capitol violates the First Amendment’s establishment clause, a federal judge ruled.

The plaintiffs who challenged the law presented undisputed record evidence showing the statute “impermissibly promotes the Ten Commandments and conveys an intent to favor Christian religion,” the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas said Tuesday.

Chief Judge Kristine G. Baker granted summary judgment to a group of secularist organizations; Arkansas residents, including atheists, Wiccans, agnostics, and a Rabbi; and the Satanic Temple. Baker barred Secretary of State Cole Jester (R) from enforcing Arkansas’ Ten Commandments Monument Display Act. She also ordered the monument be removed, but stayed that portion of her injunction pending any appeal.

The ruling comes just over two weeks after another Arkansas federal judge blocked several school districts from enforcing a state law requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in school classrooms and libraries. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a similar Louisiana law in February, and is still weighing Texas’ law.

The Arkansas legislature’s stated purpose for passing the act “was not to commemorate the State’s religious heritage or the development of the law or any other secular idea,” but rather to commemorate the Ten Commandments, the court said. And at the time the law passed, no other state law mandated the display of a monument there without it being approved by the state’s Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission, Baker said.

Although the law includes a provision attempting to disclaim that the state favors any particular religion, the legislative findings’ references to the Bible and God support the plaintiffs’ assertion that it still conveys one religion is favored, according to the opinion. And nothing on the monument explains that its purpose “is allegedly to provide basic principles of the American system of government,” Baker said.

The act’s primary sponsor, former Sen. Jason Rapert (R), also formed a nonprofit “for the purpose of obtaining financing” for the monument, and funding for the project came “primarily from two Christian religious organizations under the guise of the Foundation,” Baker said. Rapert’s repeated comments about the religious nature of the monument, including that Arkansas should take a stand for something honoring the Bible, are also relevant to the underlying intent of the statute, the judge said.

The state also violated the Satanic Temple’s right to equal protection under the US Constitution, the court said. The temple, which intervened in the suit, had submitted an application to donate its own religious monument of Baphomet to be placed on public grounds. The public comment period scheduled for that monument never happened, because the legislature passed a statute with an emergency clause to halt the process for the Baphomet monument, Baker said.

The temple “established that the Display Act insulated the Ten Commandments Monument from competition” and, in conjunction with the emergency legislation, infringed upon the temple’s right to compete on equal footing, the judge said.

Lavey & Burnett; Green & Gillispie; Rodey, Dickason, Sloan, Akin & Robb PA; Kezhaya Law PLC; and others represent the plaintiffs. The Arkansas attorney general’s office and First Liberty Institute represent Jester.

The case is Cave v. Jester, E.D. Ark., No. 4:18-cv-00342, 3/31/26.