A law to require all public school classrooms in Louisiana display the Ten Commandments won’t take effect until a court case plays out on whether the law is constitutional, a federal appellate court has ruled.
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals turned down Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s request to throw out a temporary hold on enforcement of the law, issued Nov. 12 by U.S. District Judge John deGravelles. The law, which the Republican-dominated Legislature and GOP Gov. Jeff Landry approved, is supposed to take effect Jan. 1
Through her spokesman, Murrill said the federal court has expedited oral arguments in the case, setting them for the week of Jan. 20.
“We’re pleased that the Court of Appeals left the district court’s injunction fully intact. As the district court ruled, this law is unconstitutional on its face,” said Heather Weaver, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU, one of the organizations representing the nine parents who are plaintiffs in the case.
The parents, some of whose children attend public schools, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Louisiana’s Middle District in Baton Rouge, arguing the new statute violates the First Amendment’s prohibition on government-sponsored religion. deGravelles, a federal court appointee of former President Barack Obama, issued an injunction to delay enforcement until the case is decided. The judge said in his ruling that it was unlikely the state would prevail because the law is “unconstitutional on its face.”
The new state law calls for 11-inch by 14-inch displays of the Ten Commandments to go up in every classroom at schools that accept state dollars. Murrill, who is also a Republican, maintains the commandments merit inclusion alongside other historical documents that form the basis of U.S. law.
“It is important to recognize that this is a preliminary ruling that applies only to the five school boards who were sued, BESE (the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education) and the Superintendent of Education,” Murrill said in a text message through her spokesman. “There are more than 60 school boards that are not subject to the ruling of the court. We look forward to continuing to defend this clearly constitutional law.”
The 5th Circuit ruled in the attorney general’s favor when deciding the injunction only applied to the public school districts that are co-defendants in the lawsuit: East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Orleans, St. Tammany and Vernon parishes.
