Judge blocks 4 districts from enforcing Arkansas law requiring Ten Commandments in classroom
Little Rock, Ark. – A new ARKANSAS law forcing public classrooms to display the ten commandments cannot be applied in a handful of the greatest school districts of the State where parents have taken up challenges on the grounds that it violates the separation of the Church and the State, judged a federal judge on Monday.
But the decision of the American district judge Timothy L. Brooks, appointed by former Obama president, just applied just four of the 237 districts of the state. This has left the impact of the limited decision while thousands of students from Arkansas are preparing to return to class this month.
The injunction is the last legal turn in an extended thrust in the states led by the Republicans to give religion a greater presence in public schools. Texas and Louisiana have adopted similar laws forcing classrooms to display the ten commandments and the question should possibly reach the Supreme Court of the United States.
“Why would Arkansas adopt a manifestly unconstitutional law?” Brooks wrote in its 35 -page decision. “Most likely because the state is part of a coordinated strategy between several states to inject Christian religious doctrine into public schools.”
The Arkansas law, signed earlier this year by the Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, takes effect on Tuesday and demands that the ten commandments be displayed in classrooms and public school libraries. The prosecution was filed on behalf of the families by the American American Liberties Union, the United Americans for the separation of the Church and the State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation.
“The court has seen this attempt to impose religious doctrine in public schools and confirmed the right of each student to freely learn from the faith imposed by the government,” said John L. Williams, ACLU’s legal director in a press release. “We are proud to stay with our customers – families of many different horizons – who just want their children to get an education.”
The Attorney General Tim Griffin, whose office defended the law, said he was examining the decision and evaluating legal options.
The trial indicates that the requirement violates the constitutional rights and pressures of families to observe a religion privileged by the State.
It was not immediately clear if the groups sought a wider block of the law beyond the four districts. ACLU Executive Director of ACLU, Holly Bailey, said through a spokesperson that “he has clearly emerged from this order and the law established for a long time that everyone should refrain from publishing” the ten commandments in public schools.
Similar requirements promulgated in Texas and Louisiana are also disputed in court. A group of families and religious leaders brought legal action aimed at blocking the requirements of Texas after its promotion.
Last month in Louisiana – The first state which forced the ten commandments must be displayed in classrooms – a panel of three appeal judges judged that the law was unconstitutional.
The decision marked a major victory for the groups of civil freedoms which say that the law violates the separation of the Church and the State. But the legal battle is probably far from over.
Many, including the prosecutor general of Louisiana, Liz Murrill, expect the affair to finally reach the Supreme Court of the United States. More recently, Murrill has deposited a petition to request the Complete United States Court of Appeal for examining the 5th circuit in this area.
