Louisiana kicks off national fight with Ten Commandments mandate

Louisiana has triggered a national controversy with a new law mandating that the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public classrooms.  

The law signed by the state's GOP governor has been blasted by civil liberties groups, which argue it infringes on the rights of students and blatantly ignores the separation of church and state. 

The issue will soon be headed to the courts, with organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) saying they plan to sue the state, and Gov. Jeff Landry vowing to defend the law. 

It is also showing signs of becoming intertwined in national political races, with former President Trump embracing the law in a Truth Social post. 

“I LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND MANY OTHER PLACES, FOR THAT MATTER. READ IT — HOW CAN WE, AS A NATION, GO WRONG???” Trump said.  

“THIS MAY BE, IN FACT, THE FIRST MAJOR STEP IN THE REVIVAL OF RELIGION, WHICH IS DESPERATELY NEEDED, IN OUR COUNTRY,” he added.  

The biblical posters in Louisiana classrooms must be in “large, easily readable font” by the beginning of next year. The displays will also include three paragraphs that explain the prominence of the Ten Commandments in American education history. 

“We're thrilled to see that Governor Landry signed this bill into law. We think it gets us back more closely to the original intent of our founding fathers,” said Matt Krause, attorney for First Liberty Institute.  

Since the 1980s, Krause said, “the Ten Commandments were allowed on schoolhouse walls. So, we've lived a lot more of our country's history with the ability to do that than we haven’t. We feel like this is a good step forward to kind of reintroduce, especially to our students, some of those founding principles of our country, and we think it's a great thing."

But the ACLU, its Louisiana branch, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation announced immediately after the law was signed that they would go to court over the measure, which they say violates the First Amendment, creating an “unconstitutional religious coercion of students” and making students feel unwelcome if they are not Christian. 

“It is a prime example of how Christian nationalism is on the march across this country. It would force public school children of all religions to read and venerate the state's preferred brand of Christianity. This is a complete violation of church-state separation,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. 

The crux of the argument could lie in the Supreme Court’s decision to nullify the Lemon test back in 2022. The standard first appeared in the 1971 Lemon v. Kurtzman, when the justices ruled the government could not provide funding to nonsecular schools without violating the Establishment Clause.

In 1980, the high court took on the Stone v. Graham case, where it ruled based on the Lemon test that a Kentucky law requiring the Ten Commandments in schools was unconstitutional.

But in the 2022 Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a football coach who was fired for praying after games. The school had justified its decision by saying the coach was violating the Establishment Clause.

In the court's decision, the justices said "[i]n place of Lemon and the endorsement test" the justice system now needs to interpret the Establishment Clause by "reference to historical practices and understandings."

Krause said that "it'd be hard to argue, for anybody to argue, that the Ten Commandments aren’t a historical traditional part of the American education system, American culture, and that's why in all likelihood, it will survive any kind of constitutional scrutiny."

“There's really not another document, religious or otherwise, that is ubiquitous in American history,” he said, pointing to references to the text in the Supreme Court and the Capitol, and adding it will be good for Louisiana students to ask about the posters in classrooms so teachers have a “chance to go back into the history of founding of America.” 

But opponents of the law say the Founding Fathers would in fact be on their side.

“All of these sources make clear that the Establishment Clause was intended to prevent any sort of religious coercion or preference by government or the government taking positions on religious issues,” Laser said.

Other red states could soon be trying to follow in Louisiana's footsteps. Neighboring Texas had previously looked at mandating the Ten Commandments in public classrooms but had run out of time in its legislative session.

“Texas WOULD have been and SHOULD have been the first state in the nation to put the 10 Commandments back in our schools,” said GOP Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Thursday.  

“I will pass the 10 Commandments Bill again out of the Senate next session,” Patrick added.  

Laser pointed to other instances in Republican-led states where she says there is a concerning trend of religion mixing with taxpayer-funded schools, including chaplains replacing school counselors, coaches praying with students and the push for religious charter schools.

“We don't need states turning public schools into Sunday schools. We need a national recommitment to church-state separation. That's what protects everybody's freedom to live as themselves, and believe as they choose, so long as they don't harm others,” she added.