Judge Temporarily Blocks Law To Put Ten Commandments On Display In Every Louisiana Classroom

Topline

A federal judge in Louisiana sided with a group of parents who sued the state over a plan to require the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom, temporarily halting implementation of the rule while the lawsuit plays out in court.

Key Facts

U.S. District Judge John deGravelle stopped the state from moving ahead with plans to implement the law by Jan. 1 after parents argued the new law is a violation of their First Amendment rights to practice religious freedom, a claim that was supported by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and other groups.

The plaintiffs—nine families who are either Jewish, Christian, Unitarian Universalist or nonreligious—also argued that having the Ten Commandments displayed pressures students “into religious observance, veneration and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture,” which goes against their constitutional rights.

Tuesday's ruling doesn't overturn the law completely, but it will stop it from moving forward while the parents’ suit can be litigated.

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Key Background

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry in June signed HB71 into law, requiring all public schools in Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments beginning Jan. 1 in each classroom on a poster or framed document. The display must be at least 11 by 14 inches and include a four-paragraph “context statement" that calls the commandments a “prominent part of American public education." Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has said the posters will be paid for through private donations, not public education funds. The parents coalition sued the state just days after the law was signed, and the ACLU of Louisiana said it directly conflicts with state laws and violates precedent set by the Supreme Court in the 1980 case Stone v. Graham, which struck down a Kentucky law trying to require schools to post the Ten Commandments. Murrill has said she expects the lawsuit will go all the way to the Supreme Court.

Tangent

The Louisiana law is one of several that have passed in conservative states over the last year that blurs the separation of church and state. A year before passing the Ten Commandments law, Louisiana passed another that requires the phrase "In God We Trust” to be displayed in public classrooms and requires instructors to teach students about the phrase as a “patriotic custom." Oklahoma is facing backlash over a law requiring that the Bible be part of lesson plans in public school for students in grades 5 through 12, and that a Bible be available in every classroom. Another Oklahoma bill, signed in June, forces public schools to give class credit to students who miss up to three class periods per week to attend off-campus religious classes, and Texas and Florida last year both passed laws that allow unlicensed religious chaplains to serve as public school counselors. Montana last year made it permissible to begin the school day with prayer and passed a law allowing for religious reading material in the classroom.

What To Watch For

How President-elect Donald Trump handles religion in classrooms. In Agenda47, an outline of his policy platform released last fall, Trump said he will "be a champion for the fundamental right to pray in school." He said schools will not be eligible to receive federal funding if they've interfered with students’ religious expression. Trump, however, has also vowed to eliminate the Department of Education, which doles out federal school funding, and how that move would impact his ability to mandate school policy remains unclear.

Crucial Quote

“I LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND MANY OTHER PLACES, FOR THAT MATTER,” Trump posted to Truth Social after the bill was passed. “THIS MAY BE, IN FACT, THE FIRST MAJOR STEP IN THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION, WHICH IS DESPERATELY NEEDED, IN OUR COUNTRY.”

Further Reading