Louisiana Ten Commandments Law Temporarily Blocked by Federal Judge

AP
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A new Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public classrooms by Jan. 1 has been temporarily blocked after a federal judge on Tuesday granted a preliminary injunction.

The judge said the law is “unconstitutional on its face” and plaintiffs are likely to win their case alleging the law violates the First Amendment.

The ruling marks a victory for opponents of the law, who claim it is a violation of separation of church and state and that the poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments would isolate students, especially those who are not Christians. Proponents say the measure is not exclusively religiousbut that it has historical significance for the foundation of American law.

U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles in Baton Rouge issued the order in an ongoing lawsuit filed by a group of parents of Louisiana public school children. They say the legislation violates First Amendment language that prohibits state establishment of religion and guarantees religious freedom.

The new law in Louisiana, a reliably Republican state anchored in the Bible Belt, was passed by the state’s GOP-dominated Legislature earlier this year.

The legislation, which has been touted by Republicans, including former President Donald Trumpis one of the latest pushes from conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms — from Florida legislation that allows school districts to have volunteer chaplains to counsel students to Oklahoma’s top education official who orders public schools to incorporate the Bible into teaching.

In recent years, similar bills requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms have been proposed in other states, including TexasOklahoma and Utah. But with threats of legal battles over the constitutionality of such measures, none have come into effect.

In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law was unconstitutional and violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that Congress may “make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The High Court found that the Act had no secular purpose, but rather served a purely religious purpose.

Louisiana law, which applies to all public K-12 schools and state-funded university classes, requires that the Ten Commandments be displayed on a poster or framed document at least 11 inches by 14 inches (28 by 36 centimeters) with the text as the central focus and “printed in a large, easy-to-read font.”

Each poster must be paired with the four-paragraph “context statement” that describes how the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of American public education for nearly three centuries.”

Tens of thousands of posters would likely be needed to meet the new law. Advocates say schools are not required to spend public money on the posters, and instead they can be purchased using donations, or that groups and organizations will donate the posters themselves.

This is a developing story and will be updated.