A federal judge in Fayetteville late Monday blocked an Arkansas law mandating that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging the statute’s constitutionality.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks in the Western District of Arkansas came down just hours before the law , Act 573, would have taken effect and about a week before public school classes resume for the fall semester.

“Forty-five years ago, the Supreme Court struck down a Ten Commandments law

nearly identical to the one the Arkansas General Assembly passed earlier this year. That

precedent remains binding on this Court and renders Arkansas Act 573 plainly

unconstitutional,” Brooks wrote in a lengthy opinion.

“Why would Arkansas pass an obviou

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