PHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs has vetoed a bill that would have allowed Arizona's teachers to read or post copies of the Ten Commandments in any school building.
The Democratic governor said Senate Bill 1151 was "unnecessary" and she had some "serious concerns" about the legislation's constitutionality.
The presence of the Ten Commandments in public places has been a contested legal issue across the U.S. for decades.
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Kentucky law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in every school classroom was unconstitutional and violated the First Amendment's separation of church and state.
In 2005, the high court reviewed two similar cases involving the display of the Ten Commandments on government property. The justices determined the presence of the commandments in Kentucky courthouses was unconstitutional, but in the other case, ruled that it was constitutional for Texas to display the commandments at the state capitol building.
Arizona Republican lawmakers emphasized that the legislation would have not required schools to teach the biblical principles, but rather offer the option of including the commandments in the classroom.
Arizona state law already permits teachers display the motto "in God we trust" and the state motto, which translates to "God enriches."
State law additionally instructs a district's governing board to exclude from schools all books, papers and audiovisual materials of a "partisan or denominational character."
SB 1151 passed through the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature along party lines and with little support from Democrats.
In a statement from the Arizona Senate Republicans, the caucus accused Hobbs of "abandoning God" and "contributing to the cultural degradation within Arizona" by vetoing the bill.
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