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On Monday, the plaintiffs in a lawsuit contesting Louisiana’s new legislation requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in all public classrooms requested a preliminary injunction to stop the statute from taking effect.
The complaint asks the court to stop the state from requiring public schools to display Ten Commandments posters in all classrooms or enacting other new law provisions.
That federal lawsuit, filed last month, claims the act violates US Supreme Court precedent and the First Amendment.
House Bill 71, signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry in June, requires state-funded schools to display a poster-sized version of the Ten Commandments with “large, easily readable font” in every classroom from kindergarten to university by January 1, 2025.
Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters released a memo last month ordering schools to teach the Bible and the Ten Commandments, calling the Bible an “indispensable historical and cultural touchstone.”
The Louisiana lawsuit said that displaying the Ten Commandments in every classroom makes them “unavoidable” and “unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture.”
The complaint states that it sends the harmful and religiously divisive message that students who do not subscribe to the Ten Commandments, or more specifically, to the version H.B. 71 requires schools to display, do not belong in their school community and should refrain from expressing any faith practices or beliefs that conflict with the state’s religious preferences.
The ACLU, ACLU of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Freedom From Religion Foundation sued on behalf of nine “multi-faith families” with Louisiana public school pupils.
State Superintendent Cade Brumley, Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education officials, and local education boards are named.
He said, “The Ten Commandments law passed with resounding support in Louisiana’s state legislature, and our governor enthusiastically signed it.” I look forward to implementing the law and defending Louisiana’s sovereign interest in select classroom content fundamental to America’s foundation.”
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