A federal appeals court has narrowed a lower court's ruling that prohibited Louisiana from enforcing a law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms.
Last Friday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued an order allowing the law mandating the displays to take effect in school districts without active challenges from parents. This law is set to be implemented on New Year's Day.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill expressed her approval of the court's decision, stating that she looks forward to “immediately working with all of our school boards who are not involved in this lawsuit to implement the law soon!”
In June, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed House Bill 71 into law, which requires public school classrooms to display "certain historical documents," including the Ten Commandments, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance. The law mandates that classrooms display an 11-by-14-inch version of the Ten Commandments along with a context statement explaining their historical significance.
The legislation asserts, “Recognizing the historical role of the Ten Commandments accords with our nation's history and faithfully reflects the understanding of the founders of our nation with respect to the necessity of civic morality to a functional self-government.” It further adds, “Including the Ten Commandments in the education of our children is part of our state and national history, culture, and tradition.”
Following the enactment of HB 71, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit on behalf of an interfaith group of parents. The complaint stated that “for nearly half a century, it has been well settled that the First Amendment forbids public schools from posting the Ten Commandments in this manner.”
The plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment declaring the Act unconstitutional and request injunctive relief to prevent enforcement of the law.
U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles, an Obama appointee, issued an order the previous Tuesday, temporarily blocking the law's enforcement while litigation continued. He noted, “Plaintiffs have established a viable Free Exercise claim,” adding that “H.B. 71 is not neutral toward religion.”
The judge challenged the defendants' claims regarding the Ten Commandments' historical significance in public education, stating, “In sum, the historical evidence showed that the instances of using the Ten Commandments in public schools were too ‘scattered’ to amount to ‘convincing evidence that it was common’ at the time of the Founding or incorporation of the First Amendment to utilize the Decalogue in public-school education.”
