Lawsuit challenges new Louisiana law requiring classrooms to display the Ten Commandments
BATON ROUGE, La. — Civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Monday Louisiana’s new law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom.
Opponents of the measure, which was signed into law by Republican Governor Jeff Landry last week, have long warned of a looming lawsuit to challenge the legislation they say is unconstitutional.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include parents of public school children in Louisiana, the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Under the new law, all public K-12 classrooms and state-funded universities will be required next year to display a poster-sized version of the Ten Commandments in “large, easy-to-read font.”
Opponents claim the bill is against the law separation of church and state and that the display will isolate students, especially those who are not Christian. Supporters say that’s what the measure is not exclusively religious, but that it has historical significance. In the language of the law, the Ten Commandments are “fundamental documents of our state and national government.”
The Ten Commandments have long been at the center of lawsuits across the country.
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says Congress “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The Supreme Court ruled that the law had no secular purpose, but rather served a clearly religious purpose.
In a more recent ruling, the Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that such displays in a pair of Kentucky courthouses were unconstitutional. At the same time, the court upheld a Ten Commandments marker on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol in Austin. Those were 5-4 decisions, but the composition of the court has changed, with a 6-3 conservative majority now.
Other states, including Texas, Oklahoma and Utah, have tried to impose requirements that schools display the Ten Commandments. However, due to the threat of a legal battle, no one has the mandate except Louisiana.
The Louisiana posters, which will be paired with a four-paragraph “context statement” describing how the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of public education for almost three centuries’, should be in classrooms by early 2025.
The controversial law, in a state anchored in the Bible Belt, comes during a new era of conservative leadership in Louisiana under Landry, who replaced two-term Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards in January. The Republican Party has a supermajority in the legislature, and Republicans hold every elected position statewide, paving the way for lawmakers to push a conservative agenda.
By law, state resources will not be used to implement the mandate. The posters would be paid for by donations.
The law also allows, but does not require, the display of other items in K-12 public schools, including: The Mayflower Compact, which was signed by religious pilgrims aboard the Mayflower in 1620 and often called the “First Constitution ” of America is mentioned. ; the Declaration of Independence; and the Northwest Ordinance, which established a government in the Northwest Territory—in today’s Midwest—and created a path for the admission of new states into the Union.