Trump is key to passing Louisiana’s Ten Commandments Law

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Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry knew the outcome when signed signed into law a requirement that every classroom in his state—from kindergarten classrooms to college chemistry labs—must publish a copy of the Ten Commandments. In fact, the ambitious Republican appeared to be trolling his critics even before sanctifying the work of the GOP-controlled party. legislature.

“I’m going home to sign a bill that puts the Ten Commandments in public classrooms,” he said. he said Saturday night when he headlined a Republican Party fundraiser in Nashville. “And I can’t wait to be sued.”

The processes were in place as soon as Landry signed the bill on Wednesday. It is quite clear that this effort looks towards the Supreme Court, which for decades ruled such expressions of faith collide fatally with the First Amendment’s prohibition on state-sanctioned faith. But given the bench’s new tilt, the conservatives’ credo can be reduced to a simple profession: In Trump they trust.

That’s right. Donald Trump has been out of official power since the beginning of 2021, but his presence continues to be felt at all levels of government. His legacy is most firmly established through his three Supreme Court picks, part of the record 231 federal judges Trump has successfully won. named for federal functions. Trump’s group of judges – mostly young conservatives with a tendency to treat their positions as political vocations rather than academic exercises – are expected to shape American jurisprudence for a generation. And the Supreme Court is the most obvious and impactful of any of those tiers, thanks to 56-year-old Neil Gorsuch, 59-year-old Brett Kavanaugh, and 52-year-old Amy Coney Barrett.

This Trumpian trio is why the governor of Louisiana seemed so excited about the possibility of being prosecuted. Although the Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that a similar Kentucky law was unconstitutional, most current judges may see things differently. They have already demonstrated openness to Christian conservatives’ argument that faith and government can coexist, if not thrive in a symbiotic relationship. Notably, in 2022, the judges sided with a high school coach who argued his players had the right to pray at the 50-yard line and that Maine could not block religious schools from receiving state subsidies. A year earlier, in a unanimous decision, the Court said that a Catholic group in Philadelphia could refuse work with same-sex couples in raising children.

According to a study, parties that argue on the basis of so-called religious freedom concluded success four out of five times. This is no accident in a bench stacked by Trump with the explicit call to arms to mixture religion – specifically, Christianity – with the Rule of Law.

This, to a large extent, helps explain how those who call themselves Values ​​Voters aligned themselves with the ungodly Trump and his attempt to return to power in this year’s November elections. A Pew Research Institute to study finds that 43% of Trump supporters think government policies should support religious values ​​and 69% say the Bible should influence U.S. laws. A second Pew study finds Trump is riding high among white evangelical Protestants by a 2-to-1 margin.

While the Ten Commandments are important pieces of Jewish and Christian teachings and are compatible with Islam, the play in Louisiana — and elsewhere, to be clear — has clear connections to the Republican Party’s current courting of Christian conservatives, especially Christian nationalists. whites. That first bench survey found that 22% of Trump supporters say the government should declare Christianity the official national religion and 59% say the government should promote Christian morality.

So even though Trump is out of sanctioned power – at least for now – there is still no credible way to argue that he doesn’t have tremendous influence over the Republican Party and the laws it is passing. Louisiana may be the first test case of these ubiquitous reminders of religious teachings, but it certainly won’t be the last. The current political environment rewards such bold acts, and it is no coincidence that Landry chose to insult his critics while signaling his national ambitions during a dinner more than 500 miles from home. For any GOP politician hoping to make inroads into the party’s conservative Christian base — be it a first-term governor or a convicted former president — these kinds of favors work to build lists, credibility and fundraising records. If secular voters — or even those who think the place for expressions of faith is better served in a sanctuary than in a Nashville convention hall — would stop rewarding such trolling, perhaps the hypocritical performance art would stop. One can only pray.

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