CNN
,
Louisiana public schools are now required to display the Ten Commandments in all classrooms, after Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed the requirement into law on Wednesday.
House Bill 71, approved by state lawmakers last month, mandates that every classroom in schools receiving state funding, from kindergarten to the university level, must have a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in a “large, easy-to-read font.”
The law clearly states what language should be printed on classroom displays and also states that the text of the Ten Commandments should be the central theme of a poster or framed document.
Before signing the bill, Landry called it “one of his favorites.”
Landry said, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you have to start with the original law that was given by Moses. … He got orders from God.”
Opponents of the bill have argued that if the state mandates religious lessons in all classrooms it would violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that Congress “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
Civil liberties groups immediately vowed to challenge the law in court — which makes Louisiana the first state in the nation to mandate the display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom receiving state funding.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Americans United 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 pressure on students.”
“The First Amendment promises that we all have the right to decide for ourselves what religious beliefs we want to hold and practice, without government coercion. Politicians have no right to impose their preferred religious doctrines on students and families in public schools,” the groups said in a joint statement.
Supporters of the law have defended the measure, citing a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, in which a high school football coach was given his job back after being disciplined for a controversy involving on-field prayer. The Supreme Court ruled that the coach's prayer amounts to private speech, protected by the First Amendment, and cannot be banned by the school district.
This decision lessened the boundary between church and state, as legal experts had predicted it would lead to greater permissibility of religious expression in public spaces. At the time, the Court clarified that a government entity does not necessarily violate the Establishment Clause by allowing religious expression in public spaces.
Louisiana state Rep. Dody Horton, the bill's Republican author, said at the bill signing that “it seems there are silver linings everywhere.” Horton dismissed concerns from Democratic opponents of the measure, saying the Ten Commandments are rooted in legal history and that her bill would place a “moral code” in the classroom.
This story has been updated with additional details.