ARKANSAS — U.S. District Court Judge Timothy L. Brooks struck down an Arkansas law requiring the Ten Commandments be prominently displayed in public school classrooms. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders plans to appeal the ruling.

The Arkansas law was enacted in 2025 and required all public elementary and secondary schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library. Seven Arkansas families filed a lawsuit last year challenging the law, naming six school districts as defendants.

"Nothing could possibly justify hanging the Ten Commandments - with or without historical context - in a calculus, chemistry, French, or woodworking class, to name a few," Brooks said in his ruling. Brooks also wrote, "One doesn't exist."

The judge, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, blocked the requirement to display the Ten Commandments in Arkansas public school classrooms. The Ten Commandments were posted at the University of Arkansas on the Fayetteville campus.

John C. Williams, legal director for the ACLU of Arkansas, said, "The Constitution protects every student's right to learn free from government-imposed religious doctrine." Sanders said she would defend the state's values in her planned appeal.

Arkansas joins Louisiana and Texas in enacting similar laws requiring Ten Commandments displays in classrooms. In 2024, Louisiana became the first state to mandate poster-sized displays of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom from kindergarten through college.

The Louisiana law requires schools to accept donated Ten Commandments posters with large, easily readable font. On February 20, the full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated an earlier order that had prevented the Louisiana Ten Commandments law from taking effect, and Gov. Jeff Landry instructed schools to follow the law and post the displays.

Earlier this year, the conservative advocacy group Louisiana Family Forum sent posters to most of the state's parish school systems. Louisiana State University said it intends to comply with the law. As of last week, Louisiana State University had not received donated posters.

Last year, a similar mandate in Texas took effect requiring Ten Commandments posters in public schools statewide. Posters began going up in Texas classrooms as school districts accepted donations or paid to have them printed. About two dozen of Texas's roughly 1,200 school districts were barred from hanging the posters after federal judges issued injunctions. In January, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments over the Texas Ten Commandments law and litigation is pending.