Workers remove a monument bearing the Ten Commandments outside West Union High School, Monday, June 9, 2003, in West Union, Ohio. Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom under a bill signed into law by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Al Behrman, File)
Although Louisiana recently declared Juneteenth a state holiday, its governor conducted official business on Wednesday, making Louisiana the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed a bill drafted by the state’s GOP-controlled legislature. It mandates that by Jan. 1, 2025, every public school classroom must display the Ten Commandments “on a poster or framed document that is at least eleven inches by fourteen inches,” and adds that “[t]he text of the Ten Commandments shall be the central focus of the poster or framed document and shall be printed in a large, easily readable font.”
“If you want to respect the rule of law, you have to respect the original law giver, Moses,” Landry said as he signed the bill Wednesday.
The law’s related “context statement” said that the Ten Commandments “stand out as pivotal in the religious history of America and Louisiana’s legal system,” along with the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Northwest Ordinance, and the Constitution.
“It is hoped that their study and relation to each other and the history of our state and nation will foster an appreciation for the role that religion has played in the legal history of America and the state of Louisiana and prompt further public study,” the state legislature explained.
Further, the legislature said, “American law, constitutionalism, and political theory have deep roots in religion,” and the Ten Commandments “was one of the earliest written expressions of law to be incorporated in American legal systems.”
Like a similar statute attempted in Texas, the constitutional issues raised by Louisiana’s new statute are obvious: Any requirement that public schools post religious documents raises a clear First Amendment issue. Under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, the government may not establish or endorse an official American religion, and legislation that involves religion must have some legitimate secular or legislative purpose. Whether Louisiana’s stated purpose of educating children about the role of religion in American legal history constitutes a legitimate secular purpose is a matter for a court to decide.
The Supreme Court specifically addressed the posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms in 1980 when it struck down a Kentucky statute that required posters to be displayed in classrooms. In 2005, the Supreme Court voted to leave in place a ruling against Alabama’s former chief justice, Roy Moore, who defied a federal order to dismantle a Ten Commandments monument in the rotunda of the state’s Supreme Court.
In addition to Texas, Oklahoma and Utah have also attempted to pass legislation that requires display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. However, only Louisiana has been successful in passing the laws to date.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Louisiana and Americans United for Separation of Church and State issued a joint statement Wednesday calling the law “blatantly unconstitutional,” and announcing that they intend to challenge it in court.
“Politicians have no business imposing their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools,” the groups said, noting that Louisiana’s public schools are religiously diverse and that even among religious individuals, there is disagreement bout the particular text or version of the Ten Commandments.
“The government should not be taking sides in this theological debate, and it certainly should not be coercing students to submit day in and day out to unavoidable promotions of religious doctrine,” the statement read.
Landry has already gone on record as welcoming legal challenges to the statute. At a fundraiser Saturday, the governor remarked, “I can’t wait to be sued,” when asked about the Ten Commandments mandate.
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