Update: Judge blocks Louisiana from enforcing Ten Commandments law
State’s attorney general promises to take case to Fifth Circuit Appeals Court
A challenge to Louisiana’s House Bill 71, which requires that an abridged version of the Ten Commandments be prominently posted in the state’s public-school classrooms, has begun winding its way through the court system and could eventually end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. This page will be updated with developments.
If the law is ever upheld, Louisiana would become the first U.S. state in this century to have such a requirement since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Kentucky in 1980.
Update (November 12, 2024)
U.S. District Court Judge John W. deGravelles today issued an order preventing Louisiana from implementing its law that requires that the Ten Commandments be posted in public-school classrooms.
In his written opinion, deGravelles said that the law poses an impermissible burden on students because they “cannot opt out of viewing the Ten Commandments when they are displayed in every classroom, every day of the year, every year of their education.”
Responding to the state’s argument that it has a legitimate educational interest in conveying to students the historical and cultural importance of the Ten Commandments, de Gravelles said that there are “any number of ways that the state could advance an alleged interest in educating students about the Ten Commandments that would be less burdensome.”
DeGravelles was appointed by Barack Obama.
The Louisiana attorney general, Liz Murrill, said she would appeal immediately to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, widely regarded as one of the more conservative federal appeals courts.
Update (July 25, 2024)
U.S. District Court Judge John W. deGravelles has signed an injunction that prevents the Louisiana state education superintendent and other school officials from implementing Louisiana’s controversial law requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in public-school classrooms throughout the state. The injunction remains in effect until Nov. 15.
DeGravelles, an Obama appointee to the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Indiana, signed the injunction Monday. The injunction is not based on the merits of the case and is intended to allow time for lawyers to present their legal arguments on the constitutionality of the law.
The legal case is Roake v. Brumley, named for the Rev. Darcy Roake, one of the parents challenging the law, and the school superintendent, Cade Brumley. In total, 12 parents are challenging the law on behalf of themselves and their children with support from the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church & State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation. The plaintiffs claim that the law violates the establishment and free-exercise clauses of the First Amendment.
The school superintendent is represented by the state attorney general’s office.
Regardless of the District Court’s eventual decision, it is likely to be appealed.
Update (June 19, 2024):
Chalk up a huge win for the Christian nationalist movement as Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landy signed a bill Wednesday requiring that an easily readable poster or document of the Ten Commandments be posted in public classrooms throughout the state.
The new law, House Bill 71, will certainly face an immediate court challenge as it makes Louisiana the first state in modern times to have such a mandate, which directly challenges longstanding principles behind the separation of church and state. The Supreme Court found a very similar Kentucky law unconstitutional in 1980, finding that it violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
Groups such as the secular American Civil Liberties Union and even some religious organizations have already indicated they will fight the law. The ACLU briefly announced its plans on Threads shortly after the bill signing: “We’re suing Louisiana for requiring all public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.”
At the bill-signing ceremony, Landry said he was signing the bill in part “because if you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.”
At a political gathering in Kentucky over the weekend, Landry told his supporters: “And I can’t wait to be sued.” He undoubtedly will get his wish.
Original article (June 4, 2024):
A bill of dubious constitutionality that would require the posting of the Ten Commandments in public-school classrooms throughout Louisiana is awaiting the signature — or potentially a veto — of Gov. Jeff Landry. If the bill, which was sent to Landry last week after passing the Legislature on mostly party-line votes (Republicans for, Democrats against) becomes law, Louisiana would become the first state to have such a law since the U.S. Supreme Court in 1980 struck down a similar Kentucky law for violating the Establishment Cause of the First Amendment.
Similar legislation was considered earlier this year in Texas, Utah and South Carolina but did not pass, partly out of constitutional concerns.
The bill, House Bill 71, would require the posting of a highly abridged version of the commandments — fewer than 100 words — as the central focus of a posted framed document of at least 11 by 14 inches in “a large readable font.”
Landry’s signing of the bill seems likely. Although he has not publicly indicated whether he will sign it, he has generally supported the agenda of the religious conservatives on issues such as abortion, LGBTQ concerns and prayer in schools.
If it becomes law, the bill would go in effect next Jan. 1. A court challenge of the law is a near certainty. A coalition of organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State has already issued a statement of opposition:
This bill is unconstitutional. The state may not require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. ... Politicians should not be forcing religious scripture on students. Our public schools are not Sunday schools, and students of all faiths — or no faith — should feel welcome in them.
The bill itself cites Van Orden v. Perry, a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed the display of the Ten Commandments on public property, as constitutional justification for the proposal. The bill says that the version the bill uses of the Ten Commandments — which are numbered and sometimes abridged differently by Jews and as well as various branches of Christianity — is the same as the one permitted in Van Orden.
However, there are substantial differences between what was approved in Van Orden and what this bill would require. In a 5-4 ruling, the high court acknowledged that “[o]f course, the Ten Commandments are religious” and that a monument outside the Texas state Capitol featuring the commandments “has religious significance.” But it also found that the monument had a strong enough of a secular purpose to be permissible.
More significantly, the prevailing opinion in Van Orden contrasted itself with Stone v. Graham, the 1980 decision rejecting Kentucky’s law requiring the commandments to be be posted in classrooms:
The placement of the Ten Commandments monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds is a far more passive use of those texts than was the case in Stone, where the text confronted elementary school students every day.
Such concerns were rejected by legislators who supported the bill. State Rep. Dodie Horton, who authored the bill, told lawmakers last month:
The Ten Commandments are the basis of all laws in Louisiana, and given all the junk our children are exposed to in classrooms today, it’s imperative that we put the Ten Commandments back in a prominent position.
She expressed optimism that the bill could pass constitutional review, pointing out that the legal landscape over the role of religion in public life has changed. She cited Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled a football coach at public high school did not violate the Constitution when he publicly prayed on his school’s football field after games.