Judge rules the Arkansas State Capitol Ten Commandments display unconstitutional

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KAIT) — A U.S. district judge ruled Tuesday that a Ten Commandments display on the Arkansas State Capitol grounds must be removed immediately.

Chief U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker ruled in Donna Cave v. Cole Jester that Jester, the Arkansas secretary of state, must remove the display because it violates plaintiffs’ rights under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

The ruling prohibits Jester from enforcing the Ten Commandments Monument Display Act, which state legislators passed in 2016, and requires Jester to immediately remove the Ten Commandments Monument from the State Capitol grounds.

On April 26, 2018, a 3-ton, 6-foot granite monument depicting the Ten Commandments was installed on public property between the Arkansas State Capitol and the Justice Building.

The plaintiffs said the monument violated their First Amendment rights under the Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from favoring one religion over another.

Anne Orsi, Gale Stewart, Eugene Levy, Teresa Grider, the Arkansas Humanist Association, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers, Donna Cave, and Pati Piazza were plaintiffs in the case. Erika Robbins, Doug Misicko, and the Satanic Temple joined the case as intervenor plaintiffs.

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