BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP) — Civil rights groups filed suit Monday to block a new Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in every public school classroom, saying the measure violates the Constitution.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include parents of children from diverse religious backgrounds in Louisiana public schools, represented by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
“This portrayal sends the message to my children and other students that people of certain religious beliefs are superior to others,” said the Rev. Jeff Simms, a Presbyterian pastor who is a plaintiff in the case and a father of three children in Louisiana public schools. “This is religious favoritism.”
Under a law signed last week by Republican Governor Jeff Landry, all public classrooms and state-funded universities will be required to display a poster version of the Ten Commandments in “large, legible type” next year.
Opponents argue that the law violates the separation of church and state and that the exhibit will isolate students, especially those who are not Christian. Supporters say the measure is not only religious in nature, but also has historical significance. In the language of the law, the Ten Commandments are “fundamental documents of our state and national government.”
Plaintiff Joshua Herlands has two adolescent children who, like their father, are Jewish and are studying in New Orleans public schools. There are several versions of the Ten Commandments, and Herlands said the particular version required for classroom walls does not match his version of faith. He fears the display could send a disturbing message to his children and others that “they may be worth less in the eyes of the government.”
“It is absolutely not the place of politicians to impose their beliefs on my or other children or to try to indoctrinate them with what they believe to be the correct version of a particular religious text,” Herlands said.
The lawsuit, filed Monday, seeks a court declaration that the new law, referred to in the suit as HB 71, violates First Amendment provisions prohibiting a government establishment of religion and guaranteeing religious freedom. The lawsuit also seeks an order prohibiting the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.
“The state’s primary interest in passing HB 71 was to impose religious beliefs on children in public schools without regard to the harm to students and families,” the lawsuit states. “The bill’s primary sponsor and author, Representative Dodie Horton, stated during debate on the bill that it ‘intends to help illustrate God’s law in the classroom so that children can see what He believes is right and wrong.'”
The defendants include the state’s Secretary of Education, Cade Brumley, as well as members of the state Board of Education and some local school boards.
Landry and Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill support the new law, and Murrill has said she looks forward to defending it. She issued a statement saying she could not comment directly on the lawsuit because she had not yet seen it.
“It appears that the ACLU only cares selectively about the First Amendment – it doesn’t care if the Biden administration censors free speech or arrests pro-life protesters, but apparently it will fight to prevent signs discussing our own legal history,” Murrill said in the emailed statement.
The Ten Commandments have long been at the center of legal disputes across the country.
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar law in Kentucky violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that Congress “shall make no law establishing a State religion.” The Supreme Court found that the law had a distinctly religious purpose, not a secular one.
In a more recent ruling, the Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that such signs in two Kentucky courthouses were unconstitutional. At the same time, the court upheld a sign with the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol in Austin. The decision was 5-4 at the time, but the composition of the court has changed; it now has a conservative majority of 6-3.
Although some people think this case could go to the U.S. Supreme Court and put conservative members to the test, plaintiffs’ lawyers say they think this is a clear-cut case.
“We believe this is already covered by clear Supreme Court precedent,” said Patrick Elliott, legal director of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. “We believe we will succeed under current law and it would not be necessary for the Supreme Court to review this.”
Other states, including Texas, Oklahoma, and Utah, have attempted to enforce Ten Commandments postings in schools, but due to the threat of litigation, no state except Louisiana has adopted this requirement.
The Louisiana posters, which are accompanied by a four-paragraph “context statement” describing how the Ten Commandments “have been an important part of public education for nearly three centuries,” must be displayed in classrooms by early 2025.
The controversial law comes during a new era of conservative leadership in Louisiana under Landry, who replaced two-term Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards in January. Republicans hold an overwhelming majority in the Legislature and hold all statewide elected offices, paving the way for lawmakers to push a conservative agenda.
The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge John deGravelles, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Barack Obama.
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McGill reported from New Orleans.
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This story has been corrected to show that the plaintiffs are represented by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
