First Amendment

Appeals Court Blocks Louisiana Ten Commandments in Classrooms Law

"If H.B. 71 goes into effect, Students will be subjected to unwelcome displays of the Ten Commandments for the entirety of their public school education. There is no opt-out option," the court's opinion reads.

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Classroom | Illustration: Eddie Marshall | Ognyan Chobanov | Dreamstime.com | Midjourney
(Illustration: Eddie Marshall | Ognyan Chobanov | Dreamstime.com | Midjourney)

On Friday, a federal appeals court affirmed an earlier ruling blocking a Louisiana law mandating that public school classrooms display posters of the Ten Commandments. The decision is the latest development in a series of state-level attempts to mandate religious instruction in public schools.

"This is a resounding victory for the separation of church and state and public education," Heather L. Weaver, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a Friday press release. "With today's ruling, the Fifth Circuit has held Louisiana accountable to a core constitutional promise: Public schools are not Sunday schools, and they must welcome all students, regardless of faith."

Last June, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, signed House Bill 71 into law, which mandates that all public school classrooms display the Ten Commandments "on a poster or framed document that is at least eleven inches by fourteen inches," printed "in a large, easily readable font." The state tried to avoid claims that the law violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from "respecting an establishment of religion," by requiring displays to either be donated or purchased with privately donated funds and allowing teachers to display the Ten Commandments next to other important historical legal documents. However, courts have not found these arguments convincing. In November, a Louisiana federal judge blocked the law, writing that it was "facially unconstitutional."

The state appealed, and last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit unanimously agreed that the lower court's injunction was correct and that the law likely violated the First Amendment. 

While incorporating study of religious text into some classroom contexts is constitutional (for example, a study of world religions), "The statute does not require that the Ten Commandments be integrated into a curriculum of study," the court's majority opinion reads. "On the contrary, under the statute's minimum requirements, the posters must be indiscriminately displayed in every public school classroom in Louisiana regardless of class subject-matter."

"If H.B. 71 goes into effect, Students will be subjected to unwelcome displays of the Ten Commandments for the entirety of their public school education. There is no opt-out option. Plaintiffs are not mere bystanders," said the court.

Louisiana isn't the only state to attempt to force public schools to engage in explicit religious instruction. In Oklahoma, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters released a memo last year requiring public schools "to incorporate the Bible, which includes the Ten Commandments, as an instructional support into the curriculum." Walters has also sought to mandate that classrooms stock Bibles.