FILE – Workers remove a monument bearing the Ten Commandments outside West Union High School, Monday, June 9, 2003, in West Union, Ohio (AP Photo/Al Behrman, File).
The families of Louisiana schoolchildren who sued to challenge a new law requiring that the Ten Commandments are displayed in every classroom are now asking a federal court to block the law before children return to school in August.
In June, Louisiana became the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom. The law requires that by Jan. 1, 2025, every public school classroom in the state must display the Ten Commandments “on a poster or framed document that is at least eleven inches by fourteen inches,” in “a large, easily readable font.”
When Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, signed the law, he said it was a way of respecting Moses as “the original law giver.” When Landry was questioned about the legality of the requirement, he bragged, “I can’t wait to be sued.” Landry’s wish was fulfilled just days later when a multifaith group of nine families filed a federal lawsuit claiming that law violates the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.
