CNN
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Louisiana public schools will now be required to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom after Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed the law on Wednesday.
House Bill 71, approved by the state Legislature last month, would require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in poster-sized format in “large, easily readable font” in every classroom in schools receiving state funding, from kindergarten through college level.
The law specifies the exact language that must be printed on classroom displays and stipulates that the Ten Commandments text must be front and center on the poster or framed document.
Before signing the bill, Landry called it “one of my favorites.”
“If we want to respect the rule of law, we have to start with the original law given to Moses. … Moses received the commandments from God,” Landry said.
Opponents of the bill argue that for the state to require religious texts in all classrooms would violate the Church-State Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says Congress “shall make no law respecting religion.”
Civil rights groups have vowed to immediately challenge in court the law, which would make Louisiana the first state in the nation to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all state-funded classrooms.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Americans for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation said the law violates long-standing Supreme Court precedent and the First Amendment and would result in “unconstitutional religious coercion against students.”
“The First Amendment promises us all the ability to decide for ourselves what religious beliefs, if any, we will hold and practice, without government pressure. Politicians do not have the right to impose their preferred religious doctrines on students and families in our public schools,” the groups said in a joint statement.
In defending the bill, supporters point to the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, which allowed a high school football coach who was disciplined in a controversy over on-field prayer to be reinstated. The Supreme Court ruled that a coach’s prayer constitutes private speech, is protected by the First Amendment, and cannot be restricted by school districts.
The decision lowered the bar between church and state, and legal experts predicted it would open the door to more religious expression in public places. At the time, the court made it clear that a government agency’s decision to allow religious expression in public places does not necessarily violate the separation of church and state clause.
“There seems to be hope everywhere,” the bill’s author, Republican Rep. Dodie Horton of Louisiana, said at the bill-signing ceremony. Horton dismissed concerns from Democrats who oppose the bill, saying the Ten Commandments are rooted in legal history and that her bill would instill a “moral code” in classrooms.
This story has been updated with additional details.
