BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Civil liberties groups filed a lawsuit Monday challenging Louisiana’s new law which requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public school classrooms.
Opponents of the measure, which was signed into law by the Republican governor. Jeff Landry last week, they had long warned of an imminent lawsuit to fight legislation they consider unconstitutional.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include parents of Louisiana public school children, the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for the 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 to display a poster-sized version of the Ten Commandments in “large, easy-to-read font” next year.
Opponents argue that the law is a violation of separation of state and church and that the display will isolate students, especially those who are not Christians. Defenders say the measure is not just religious, but which 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 court cases across the country.
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law violated the U.S. Constitution’s establishment clause, which says Congress may “make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The high court concluded that the law did not have a secular purpose but served a clearly religious purpose.
In a more recent ruling, the Supreme Court held in 2005 that such displays in a pair of Kentucky courtrooms violated the Constitution. At the same time, the court maintained a marker of the Ten Commandments at the Texas State Capitol in Austin. There were 5-4 decisions, but the composition of the court changed, now with a 6-3 conservative majority.
Other states, including Texas, Oklahoma and Utah, have attempted to pass requirements for schools to display the Ten Commandments. However, with threats of legal battles, no one has the mandate in place except Louisiana.
The posters in Louisiana, which will be accompanied by a four-paragraph “context statement” describing how the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of the Public education for almost three centuries”, should be in force in classrooms by the beginning of 2025.
The controversial law, in a Bible Belt state, comes during a new era of conservative leadership in Louisiana under Landry, who replaced two-term Democratic governor John Bel Edwards in January. The Republican Party holds a supermajority in the Legislature and Republicans hold every elected office statewide, paving the way for lawmakers to promote a conservative agenda.
