Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin formally objected late last week to The Satanic Temple's request to intervene in a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a Ten Commandments monument on the state Capitol grounds.
Then on Friday, four members of a walking and cycling group who filed the lawsuit also objected, saying the claims asserted by the proposed intervenors are "different, broader and bear only tangential relation" to the group member's claims.
The walking group members, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, filed one of two lawsuits over the monument May 23. The other lawsuit was filed by a coalition of people representing various religions and secular groups.
Because both groups contend that the monument violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause by constituting a state-sanctioned endorsement of one religion, and both seek the monument's removal, U.S.
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