In Cave v. Jester, (ED AR, March 31, 2026), an Arkansas federal district court ordered the Arkansas Secretary of State to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Arkansas State Capitol grounds. The monument was identical to the one approved by the Supreme Court in the Van Orden case. In ordering removal of the Arkansas monument, the court, in a 148-page opinion, said in part:
This case is factually distinguishable from both Van Orden and [the 8th Circuit's] Plattsmouth [decision]. Perhaps most notably here, the Ten Commandments Monument is new, and the Orsi, Cave, and Intervenor plaintiffs did not wait many years before challenging the monument. ...
Additionally, unlike in Van Orden and Plattsmouth where the Ten Commandments monuments were funded by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, a civic organization with the secular purpose to reduce juvenile delinquency, here the Ten Commandments Monument was funded by a GoFundMe account set up by Senator Rapert through the Foundation with major funding from Agape Church in Little Rock and PureFlix Entertainment, whose stated purpose as a “Christian Movie Studio” is “to influence the global culture for Christ through media” and whose mission is to “to strive to make a difference for His name.”...
Also, the context of the passage of the Display Act giving rise to the Ten Commandments Monument is different from the context of the monuments in Van Orden and Plattsmouth. The passage of the Display Act itself indicates that the Display Act favors religion in violation of the Establishment Clause.....
Further, the Arkansas General Assembly’s stated purpose for passing the Display Act was not to commemorate the State’s religious heritage or the development of the law or any other secular idea. Instead, the Arkansas General Assembly’s stated purpose in passing legislation to mandate the placement of a new, stand-alone monument on State Capitol grounds was “commemorating the Ten Commandments.” Ark. Code Ann. § 22-3-221(b)(1)....
Axios reports on the decision.
