A federal judge in Louisiana has temporarily blocked a state law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms, finding that the law is “unconstitutional on its face and in all applications.”
In a ruling Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles issued a preliminary injunction against House Bill 71, which was set to go into effect in the new year. The law, deGravelles wrote, violates the First Amendment’s establishment clause, which says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” He cited First Amendment concerns, “given the impressionability of young students and the fact that they are captive audiences.”
H.B. 71, which Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law in June, requires a poster or framed document of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” to be displayed in all public classrooms from K-12 schools up through state-funded universities. The posters must also include a “context statement” describing the Ten Commandments as “a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.”
At a bill-signing event, Landry said, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.”
A multifaith group of families with children in public schools subsequently sued the state, arguing that H.B. 71 violates a 1980 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned a similar law in Kentucky. DeGravelles sided with the plaintiffs, agreeing that the Louisiana law “runs afoul” of the precedent set by the high court. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said her office will appeal the decision. As my colleague Jordan Rubin has pointed out, should the lawsuit go to the U.S. Supreme Court, Louisiana officials are banking on the slate of conservative justices to overturn the precedent.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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