In the first six months of his term, the governor Jeff Landry has driven a broad conservative agenda that is altering the cultural landscape of Louisiana, from abortion rights to criminal justice to education.
This culminated this week with the signing of the country’s first law ordering that the Ten Commandments be posted in all public school classrooms in the state.
“If you want to respect the rule of law, you have to start with the original lawgiver, who was Moses,” said Landry, a Republican, said at a bill signing ceremony Wednesday in Lafayette.
This demonstration, which raised criticism among Democratic lawmakers and is already attracting attention threat of legal challenges by civil liberties groups over its constitutionality, would have been unlikely in Louisiana before, even when a Republican, Bobby Jindal, last held the governor’s office eight years ago.
But now, the state is moving to the forefront of a culturally conservative wave typically associated with states like Florida and Texas, said Pearson Cross, a political science professor at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
Landry “sees this cultural struggle. He’s a culture warrior,” Cross said. “He feels comfortable in that and believes that being attacked or having to defend himself on these specific issues is a good thing. This demonstrates his good faith, because he is standing up to the left.”
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who supported Landry’s election campaign last year, wrote on his social media platform Friday that the entire country should follow Louisiana’s example in allowing the Ten Commandments in public schools.
What allowed Landry’s agenda to move forward came after a crucial shift in state politics in early 2023, political observers say, when a Democratic lawmaker in northeast Louisiana changed his political affiliation for the Republican, giving the Republican Party an absolute majority in the House. The Republicans already had one in the Senate, and with the election of Landry, former state attorney general and congressman, as governor last fall, consolidated the party’s control over the executive branch and both chambers of the Legislature with a veto-proof majority.
“This is a unique moment in Louisiana politics when a very conservative Republican has been elected governor and has the support of a supermajority in the House and Senate,” Cross said. “For the last eight years, we’ve had a Democratic governor and now there’s a huge appetite for some of these conservative changes that couldn’t have been passed before.”
Landry succeeded Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, who was term limited after winning in 2015 and 2019.
During his campaign, Landry spoke openly about your support for the almost total ban on abortion in the state and promised to crack down on crime with tougher laws. In his first weeks in office, he called a special legislative session that focused on criminal justice review.
Among the controversial bills he signed into law: allowing the State using nitrogen gas as a form of capital punishment; undo a “raise the age” law to now treat all 17-year-olds accused of crimes as adults; essentially eliminating parole with few exceptions; and authorizing residents 18 and older to carry concealed weapons without a permit, a law that takes effect next month.
Other account signed into law by Landry this week will allow judges to order certain sex offenders who commit crimes against children to undergo surgical castration – the first of any state in the country. The law comes into force in August. Other states, including Louisiana, make chemical castration legal for certain sex crimes.
The bill was proposed by a Democrat, but was overwhelmingly opposed by Democrats and supported by Republicans.
And in another move that continues to put Louisiana in a unique position, Landry signed an agreement measure into law last month that puts two drugs used to induce abortions — mifepristone and misoprostol — on the state list of controlled dangerous substances.
The law makes possession of medications without valid prescriptions or orders from medical professionals punishable by up to five years in prison. Although pregnant women who obtain the drugs for their own use are not subject to prosecution under the legislation, medical professionals have criticized the law, saying the drugs have uses outside of abortion care, including assistance in labor and delivery, treatment of miscarriage and prevention of gastrointestinal ulcers.
Landry said in a statement that the law is “nothing short of common sense” and “protects women throughout Louisiana.”
But legal experts say that further criminalizing actions in new ways does not provide deterrence and will not reduce the prison population in Louisiana, which has one of the higher incarceration rates in the country and disproportionately affects black people, according to the Vera Institute of Justice.
“The special session on crime was about punishment, not crime prevention in the first place,” said William Snowden, an assistant professor at Loyola University New Orleans School of Law. “Governor Landry is trying to use old keys to open new doors despite having examples of how to improve public safety in our state.”
It is not just social and cultural issues that raise concerns.
Steven Procopio, president of the nonpartisan Louisiana Public Affairs Research Council, which advocates for fiscal responsibility and government transparency, said groups like his were concerned after a bill that would limit access to public records from the state’s office governor was proposed.
But the bill was withdrawn last month by the Republican senator who wrote it, following concerns about the openness of the government.
Procópio said the large public outcry helped reverse course, indicating how lawmakers can be influenced.
“People were really upset about some of the broad attempts to undermine public records,” he said.
Procópio said that although there are other issues, including Landry’s control over the state Ethics Boardwhich remains a concern, the governor attempt to revise the state constitution can be positive. Still, he hopes Louisianans remain invested in what’s happening with their government.
“For people to express what they like or don’t like, they have to know what’s going on. But if things are done in secret, democracy starts to fall apart,” said Procópio. “These changes related to ethics or public records are actually nonpartisan policies. If you can’t follow them, you can’t successfully lobby your own government.”
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
