Federal Court Rules Against Louisiana Ten Commandments Law

Three federal appeals judges on Friday unanimously ruled that a Louisiana law mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in all public school classrooms would be “plainly unconstitutional,” concurring with a lower court’s conclusion.

The decision marks a setback for religious conservatives who have been leading a charge in state legislatures to lower the wall between state institutions and religion, and carries implications for the fate of a similar bill that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law on Friday.

“This is a resounding victory for the separation of church and state and public education,” Heather L. Weaver, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Associated Press. “With today’s ruling, the Fifth Circuit has held Louisiana accountable to a core constitutional promise: Public schools are not Sunday schools, and they must welcome all students, regardless of faith.”

But the battle is far from over. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said that she will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary, and Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, who signed the bill into law last June, has said he will support that strategy.

That reflects a broader belief from religious conservatives that the Supreme Court will be key to overturning legal precedent barring religion from public schools and other state entities.

Advocates for the Texas policy, Senate Bill 10, were confident that the highest court in the land would vouch for its constitutionality, citing its recent decision in favor of a coach who was fired after praying on the field during a public school’s football game — going so far as to invite him to testify in support of the bill.

SB 10 passed with strong Republican support in Texas this session, boasting as authors all 20 Republicans in the Texas Senate alongside its primary author, Weatherford Republican Sen. Phil King. 

Upon taking effect on Sept. 1, the law will mandate that all public school classrooms display a poster of the Ten Commandments, using a prescribed wording identical to the one displayed on a granite monument of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas Capitol.

Schools in Texas will be allowed, but not required, to spend their own money on the posters, but if an outside organization donates posters to the school, they will be required to put them up.

Republicans came close to passing a near-identical bill last session, but failed to pass it to the governor’s desk due to a logjam of legislation clogging up the agenda at the end of the session.

Friday’s decision upholds a prior decision from a lower appeals court, which similarly called the policy “unconstitutional on its face.”