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KRS 158.178

Ten Commandments to be displayed

Known as the Nicole Hadley, Jessica James, and Kayce Steger Act

The act spans §§ 158–158 (270 sections).

Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case Stone v. Graham (1981)

Most recently applied in Roake v. Brumley (June 2025)

Effective: June 17, 1978 History: Created 1978 Ky

How often courts cite this section

19811990200020102020202510
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) It shall be the duty of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, provided sufficient funds are available as provided in subsection (3) of this section, to ensure that a durable, permanent copy of the Ten Commandments shall be displayed on a wall in each public elementary and secondary school classroom in the Commonwealth. The copy shall be sixteen (16) inches wide by twenty (20) inches high.

(2) In small print below the last commandment shall appear a notation concerning the purpose of the display, as follows: "The secular application of the Ten Commandments is clearly seen in its adoption as the fundamental legal code of Western Civilization and the Common Law of the United States." (3) The copies required by this section shall be purchased with funds made available through voluntary contributions made to the State Treasurer for the purposes of this section.

Official source: Kentucky General Assembly. Reproduced from public-domain Kentucky statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.