Judge rules Louisiana law ordering schools to display Ten Commandments violates First Amendment
A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Louisiana law that would have required public schools statewide to display the Ten Commandments in their classrooms by Jan. 1. U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles of Baton Rouge, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, ruled Tuesday that the law violates the free exercise and establishment clauses of the First Amendment.
The ruling found the Louisiana law was "unconstitutional on its face and in every application," prohibited Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and defendants in this case from enforcing the mandate, and required them to notify public schools of the change.
The Louisiana Attorney General's Office on Tuesday alleged the judge's ruling only applies to the five school districts in the state named in the lawsuit — East Baton Rouge Parish Schools, Livingston Parish Schools, St. Tammany Parish Schools, Orleans Parish Schools and Vernon Parish Schools.
And in a statement provided to CBS News, Murrill said that "we strongly disagree with the court's decision and will immediately appeal, as HB 71's implementation deadline is approaching on January 1, 2025."
Tuesday's decision came alongside a preliminary injunction issued in a lawsuit brought by parents of Louisiana public school students, who are represented by a legal team from the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Defendants include Louisiana Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley, along with members of the state education board and other local school boards, all of whom the attorney general represents.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican whose push to integrate elements of his own Christian faith into secular life has been central to his political platform, signed the Ten Commandments legislation into law in June. Referred to as HB 71 in the ongoing lawsuit, it ordered all public K-12 classrooms and state-funded universities in Louisiana to display a poster-sized printout of the commandments — a set of moral directives essentially meant to lay the foundation of certain religious sects, including the Christian church — in "large, easily readable font" starting next year.
Proponents of the law argued it would reinstate a former relic of "state and national history, culture, and tradition" in Louisiana's public education spaces and claimed the measure was not only rooted in religion. But those who opposed the legislation raised questions about its constitutionality.
In an original complaint challenging the Ten Commandments law, the ACLU claimed it amounted to a violation of church and state and would effectively discriminate against students, particularly students who are not Christian. Their lawsuit sought a court order declaring HB 71 infringed on the constitutional religious rights laid out by the First Amendment, which forbids the government from "establishing" a religion, or favoring one religion over others, and protects the religious liberties of individual citizens.
"The state's main interest in passing H.B. 71 was to impose religious beliefs on public-school children, regardless of the harm to students and families," read the original complaint. "The law's primary sponsor and author, Representative Dodie Horton, proclaimed during debate over the bill that it 'seeks to have a display of God's law in the classroom for children to see what He says is right and what He says is wrong.'"
The ACLU said in a statement its lawsuit represented a group of plaintiffs "who are Jewish, Christian, Unitarian Universalist, and non-religious." Each felt "the newly enacted statute violates longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent" along with the U.S. Constitution, the statement added.
Meanwhile, Christopher Dier, an American history teacher based in New Orleans, has filed a separate lawsuit against the new law in federal court in New Orleans. Dier's lawyers on Tuesday submitted a copy of deGravelles' ruling to the judge overseeing Dier's case as evidence to strengthen their claim that the new law is a violation of religious freedoms.
"If I had to put the Ten Commandments in my classroom, it would make me feel as if I'm a state agent, coercing students to follow one specific religion, which is not the goal of public-school educators, especially history teachers," said Dier, who was awarded Louisiana teacher of the year in 2020. "We want our students to feel included."
Nicole Hunt, an attorney with the Christian advocacy group Focus on the Family, disagrees that the displays of the Ten Commandments would single out any students or teachers in schools who do not have Christian beliefs.
"As a parent, I would be excited to see the Ten Commandments posted on my student's wall," Hunt told CBS News. "They serve not only as moral guidelines for the individuals and for society, things like do not murder do not commit adultery, these are things that help to create a thriving community, and a thriving nation."
"It's a symbol of religious freedom in America," she added.