Louisiana’s law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments is unconstitutional, a United States federal judge ruled this week. Source: OSV News.
The ruling is a setback for proponents of the measure, but not an unexpected one, as Louisiana officials anticipated legal challenges and opponents said they would sue.
The US Supreme Court previously struck down a similar law in Kentucky in 1980, ruling that it violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause.
US District judge John deGravelles ruled the law violated court precedent and the First Amendment.
The law, Judge deGravelles wrote in his ruling, “is coercive to students, and, for all practical purposes, they cannot opt out of viewing the Ten Commandments when they are displayed in every classroom, every day of the year, every year of their education”.
He further argued “there is insufficient evidence of such a broader tradition” at the time of America’s founding to justify the state’s law.
“There are any number of ways that they (the defendants) could advance an alleged interest in educating students about the Ten Commandments that would be less burdensome on the First Amendment,” he said.
The law required “the Ten Commandments and other historically significant documents” to be posted in some public settings including schools, according to the law’s text.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, indicated she planned to appeal,
President-elect Donald Trump previously praised the Louisiana law, writing on his Truth Social website in June that it “may be, in fact, the first major step in the revival of religion, which is desperately needed, in our country.”
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Federal judge blocks Louisiana law requiring public schools to post Ten Commandments (By Kate Scanlon, OSV News)
