As Louisiana schools remain stuck in the middle of a legal battle over a new state law requiring every public classroom to display the Ten Commandments, a panel of three judges heard arguments over the controversial mandate on Thursday morning.
The law, which has been touted by Republicans including President Donald Trump, went into effect on Jan. 1. However, schools have seemingly been stuck in limbo. At the start of the year, the state issued guidelines for districts to comply with the mandate that requires poster-sized displays of the Ten Commandments in all public K-12 school and state-funded university classrooms. In response, opponents have threatened to sue if any such posters are hung up.
“I know this needs to be addressed sooner rather than later, and we will do our best to do so,” said Catharina Haynes, one of the judges who heard arguments in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Thursday. Haynes did not specify when a ruling would be issued.
The state is appealing an order issued last fall by U.S. District Judge John deGravelles, who declared the mandate unconstitutional and ordered state education officials not to take steps to enforce it and to notify all local school boards in the state of his decision.
The state contends that deGravelles’ order only affects the five school districts that are defendants in a legal challenge. But it’s unclear whether or how the law would be enforced in the state’s 67 other districts while the appeal progresses.
Days after the new law took effect, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill — the state's top lawyer — made clear that she expects school districts to comply.
Murrill issued guidance to schools on how to do so, including four samples of the Ten Commandments posters. In addition, each poster must be paired with the four-paragraph “context statement” describing how the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.”
Over the past month, the Associated Press has reached out to dozens of school districts, the Attorney General's office and the Department of Education and has not been told of any schools that have begun to hang up such posters.
Opponents of the law argue that it is a violation of the separation of church and state, and that the posters would isolate students, especially those who are not Christian.
Plaintiffs in the suit include parents of Louisiana public school children with various religious backgrounds, who are represented by attorneys with civil liberties groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation.
Proponents say that the measure is not solely religious, but that it has historical significance to the foundation of U.S. law.
The new legislation in Louisiana, a reliably Republican state that is ensconced in the Bible Belt, was signed into law by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry — making Louisiana the only state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in public classrooms. The measure was part of a slew of conservative priorities that became law in Louisiana last year.
The legislation is one of the latest pushes by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms — from Florida legislation allowing school districts to have volunteer chaplains to counsel students to Oklahoma’s top education official ordering public schools to incorporate the Bible into lessons.
Despite the ongoing legal battle, ahead of this year's legislative season, lawmakers in other statehouses have begun to propose bills similar to Louisiana's, including in Montana and Tennessee. Additionally, in December, 18 attorney generals in red states — including Alabama, Florida and Texas — filed a brief supporting Louisiana’s law.
Multiple states have proposed similar bills in recent years, however they never went into effect amid threats of legal battles over the constitutionality of such measures.
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law was unconstitutional and violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says Congress can “make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The high court found that the law had no secular purpose but rather served a plainly religious purpose.
Law experts have long said that they expect the Louisiana case to make its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Sara Cline, The Associated Press
