FFRF and a coalition of plaintiffs filed a lawsuit on May 23, 2018, seeking the removal of a massive Ten Commandments monument from the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol.
Arkansas lawmakers passed the Ten Commandments Monument Display Act in 2015, spearheaded by then-state Sen. Jason Rapert, to install a privately funded Ten Commandments monument on Capitol grounds. The monument was first installed in 2017, destroyed a day later, and replaced in 2018.
FFRF and its co-plaintiffs assert that this installation is an unconstitutional government endorsement of
religion. The plaintiffs include FFRF, the American Humanist Association, the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers, as well as seven individual plaintiffs who are religious and nonreligious citizens of Arkansas.
On March 31, 2026 the District Court ruled in favor of FFRF and its plaintiffs. Judge Kristine G. Baker struck down the state law mandating the monument and ordered that it be taken down. Her opinion concluded that both the law and the display violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
The lawsuit was consolidated with a case brought by the ACLU of Arkansas. The conjoined cases (No. 4:18-cv-00342) are before Judge Kristine G. Baker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Arkansas Attorney Gerry Schulze is representing the plaintiffs along with FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott and Senior Counsel Sam Grover.
