Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Louisiana Law Mandating Ten Commandments in Public Classrooms

A federal judge in Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday against a new state law mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in all public classrooms.

The law, which was set to go into effect on January 1, was deemed “unconstitutional on its face” by U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles, who argued that it served an “overtly religious” purpose, according to NPR.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Louisiana became the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom.

H.B. 71, which was signed into law by GOP Governor Jeff Landry in June, mandates that a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” be shown all public classrooms. This includes K-12 education and state-funded universities like LSU.

The displays will be paired with a four-paragraph “context statement” describing how the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries” according to CBS News. They must be in place in classrooms by the start of 2025. The legislation further requires that the posters be paid for through donations, not state funds.

Legislators in other states, such as Texas, Utah, and Oklahoma, have proposed requiring legislation similar to Louisiana’s. But fear of lawsuits has prevented the measures from being implemented into state law.

The BBC notes that multiple legal battles have also occurred over the years regarding the display of the Ten Commandments in public buildings, including schools, courthouses, and police stations.

H.B. 71 also authorizes the display of the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance in K-12 public schools. However, unlike the Ten Commandments, these are not required.

The judge’s ruling highlighted the constitutional concerns raised by plaintiffs — a group of Louisiana parents — who argued that the law’s requirement would isolate non-Christian students and place undue religious pressure on them.

ABC News reported:

Louisiana’s new law requiring all public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments was temporarily blocked on Tuesday by a judge who called it “unconstitutional on its face and in all applications.”

A multi-faith group of Louisiana families with children in public schools sued the state to challenge the law, HB 71, which mandates that public schools — from kindergarten to the collegiate level — display the religious text in every classroom on “a poster or framed document that is at least 11 inches by 14 inches.”

The lawsuit argues that requiring poster-sized displays of religious doctrine in classrooms violates the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights and the separation of church and state.

The suit further argues that the law violates a U.S. Supreme Court precedent, pointing to the Stone v. Graham case in which the court overturned a similar 1980 Kentucky law, holding that the separation of church and state bars public schools from posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill intends to challenge the ruling through an appeal.

“We strongly disagree with the court’s decision and will immediately appeal, as H.B. 71’s implementation deadline is approaching on January 1, 2025,” she wrote.

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