Arkansas Advocate: Federal judge permits Lakeside to be added to Ten Commandments lawsuit

By ANTOINETTE GRAJEDA | Arkansas Advocate

A federal judge has allowed for a second time the addition of an Arkansas school district to a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a new state law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public schools. 

Act 573 of 2025 requires that “a durable poster or framed copy of a historical representation of the Ten Commandments” be displayed “prominently” in public school classrooms and libraries, public institutions of higher education, and public buildings and facilities maintained by taxpayer funds. 

Posters must be donated or purchased with funds through voluntary contributions, and displays that don’t meet specifications required by the law may be replaced with public funds or private donations.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks on Wednesday permitted the inclusion of Garland County’s Lakeside School District as a defendant and Christine Benson and her minor child, B.B., as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which was filed in June by a group of Northwest Arkansas families of religious and nonreligious backgrounds. 

The families allege the state law violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which guarantees that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” and its Free Exercise Clause, which guarantees that “Congress shall make no law … prohibiting the free exercise [of religion].” 

Supporters of the law have argued the tenets have historical significance because they influenced the country’s founders in creating the nation’s laws and legal system.

Brooks issued a preliminary injunction in the lawsuit on Aug. 4, one day before the law was set to take effect, blocking implementation of the statute at the four school districts named as defendants in the original suit — Fayetteville, Springdale, Bentonville and Siloam Springs. 

Attorneys for the plaintiffs filed a motion to add the new defendant and plaintiffs to the case last week. Benson and her child assert the same claims and seek identical relief as the original plaintiffs; the only difference is their claims occurred on Sept. 25 when Lakeside School District officials hung copies of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, likely to comply with Act 573, according to Wednesday’s order. 

The state argued that permitting Benson and her child to be added to the lawsuit would complicate the pending appeal and burden parties by “dramatically increasing the scope and expense of discovery,” according to Wednesday’s order. Brooks called the state’s arguments regarding undue prejudice “unavailing,” noting that the plaintiffs are only seeking “to broaden the preliminary injunction geographically to include another school district.”

“Such a move would not affect the matters on appeal in any material respect,” Brooks wrote. “And as for the discovery burden that adding these new parties would create, the State’s argument is not tethered to reality.”

The Lakeside School District is accused of burdening Benson and her child’s free exercise rights “in exactly the same way” that the other defendant school districts are accused of burdening the other plaintiffs’ free exercise rights, Brooks said.

“Surely the State is not suggesting that time-consuming discovery will be needed to test the nature of Ms. Benson’s and B.B.’s religious beliefs to determine whether they are sincerely held,” he wrote. 

This is the second time Brooks has granted a request to add a school district to the original lawsuit. In late August, Brooks allowed the addition of the Conway School District as a defendant and district families as plaintiffs in the ongoing litigation. He later ordered Conway to remove Ten Commandments from its schools, and converted a temporary restraining order against the district into a preliminary injunction. 

A temporary restraining order is a temporary injunction that may be issued immediately, without informing all parties and without holding a hearing. It’s intended to last until a court holds a hearing on whether to grant a preliminary injunction, according to Cornell Law School. 

Ten Commandments displays have also made their way into higher education. Counteract USA, a Christian organization based in Tontitown, donated about 500 posters to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville on Sept. 19, according to a university spokesperson John Thomas. The posters began being installed on campus earlier this month.