Arkansas families sue over forced classroom display of Ten Commandments – Arkansas Times

Seven Arkansas families have sued to block a new state law requiring all public schools to “prominently” display the Ten Commandments.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville on Wednesday. The families, which all include public school students, are Jewish, Unitarian Universalist and nonreligious, according to a news release.

On Thursday, they followed up with a motion seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the law, Act 573 of 2025, from taking effect while the lawsuit is pending. Otherwise, the act would become state law on Aug. 5 as schools are preparing to reopen for the fall semester.

According to the complaint, the plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, the ACLU and others, are Samantha Stinson, Jonathan Stinson, Stephen Caldwell, Joseph Armendariz, Talara Taylor, Shane Taylor, Carol Vella, Leah Bailey and Dan Rix on behalf of themselves and their minor children.

Defendants are Fayetteville School District No. 1, Springdale School District No. 50, Bentonville School District No. 6 and the Siloam Springs School District No. 21.

“As American Jews, my husband and I deeply value the ability to raise our children in our faith, without interference from the government,” Samantha Stinson said. “By imposing a Christian-centric translation of the Ten Commandments on our children for nearly every hour of every day of their public-school education, this law will infringe on our rights as parents and create an unwelcoming and religiously coercive school environment for our children.”

The complaint contends that under Act 573, classroom and library displays will interfere with parents’ First Amendment right to direct their children’s religious upbringing. The requirement to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms creates a religiously coercive school environment, the complaint says.

“Permanently posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library — rendering them unavoidable — unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture,” the plaintiffs contend. “It also sends the harmful and religiously divisive message that students who do not subscribe to the Ten Commandments — or, more precisely, to the specific version of the Ten Commandments that Act 573 requires schools to display — do not belong in their own school community and pressures them to refrain from expressing any faith practices or beliefs that are not aligned with the state’s religious preferences.”

Act 573 requires the scriptural displays to be at least 16-by-20 inches and hung in a “conspicuous place” in each classroom and library, according to the release. The text of the Ten Commandments must be printed “in a size and typeface that is legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the room.” The law also requires a specific version of the Ten Commandments, one associated with Protestant beliefs and selected by state lawmakers.

The plaintiffs argue that the statute violates longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent and the U.S. Constitution. Further, a federal district court held last year that a Louisiana law similar to Act 573 violates parents’ and students’ First Amendment rights. “That case, in which the plaintiffs are represented by the same counsel as the plaintiffs here, is currently on appeal,” the release said.

Also representing the plaintiffs are the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Simpson Thacher Bartlett LLP on a pro-bono basis.

Asked about the lawsuit, Jeff LeMaster, a spokesman for Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, said, “We are reviewing the lawsuit and considering our options.”