The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other civil rights organizations say they intend to file a lawsuit challenging a new Louisiana law that requires public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
The lawsuit, which has not yet been filed, was announced Wednesday after Gov. Jeff Landry (R) signed a Republican-led bill that makes Louisiana the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be prominently displayed in all public elementary and secondary classrooms.
“The law violates the separation of church and state and is blatantly unconstitutional,” the ACLU, the ACLU of Louisiana, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the Religious Freedom Foundation said in a statement.
“The First Amendment promises that we will all decide for ourselves what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice, without pressure from the government. Politicians have no business imposing their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools.”
In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled in Stone v. Graham that the First Amendment prohibits public schools from posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
But under Louisiana’s new law, starting next year the Ten Commandments “will be displayed on a framed poster or document at least eleven by fourteen inches” in “large, easy-to-read font.”
On a Republican fundraising in Tennessee last weekend, Landry praised the bill and said, “I can’t wait to get sued.”
Civil rights groups said the new law could disrupt how students feel welcome in schools.
“Louisiana’s communities and public schools are religiously diverse, but HB 71 would require school officials to promote specific religious beliefs that people of many faiths, and those of no faith, do not subscribe to,” the groups said.
“Even among those who believe in some version of the Ten Commandments, the specific text to which they adhere may differ by denomination or religious tradition. The government should not take sides in this theological debate, and it certainly should not coerce students to submit day after day to inevitable promotions of religious doctrine.”
They added that the new law undermines religious freedom rights.
“All students should feel safe and welcome in our public schools. HB 71 would undermine this critical goal and prevent schools from providing an equal education to all students, regardless of religion.”
Landry’s office did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
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