Residents sue Louisiana to block state’s inclusion of Ten Commandments in schools

A general view of the Louisiana State Capitol on April 17, 2020, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. / Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 26, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

A coalition of state residents is suing the Louisiana government to block the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools, arguing that displays would violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The coalition — which is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) — filed the lawsuit against members of the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education as well as State Superintendent Cade Brumley and several local school boards.

The challenge comes after Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, who is Catholic, signed legislation that requires K–12 schools and colleges that receive public funding to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

Per the new law, the Ten Commandments must be displayed on a poster or framed document that is at least 11 inches wide and 14 inches tall. The commandments must be the central focus of the display and the display must include a statement about the history of the Ten Commandments in American public education.

Schools and colleges are required to set up these displays by Jan. 1, 2025.

When reached for comment, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement provided to CNA that the government “cannot comment on a lawsuit we haven’t seen [yet].”

“It seems the ACLU only selectively cares about the First Amendment — it doesn’t care when the Biden administration censors speech or arrests pro-life protesters, but apparently it will fight to prevent posters that discuss our own legal history,” Murrill said. 

The lawsuit, which represents nine families who have children in the state’s public education system, argues that the mandate violates both the establishment clause and the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.

The text of the lawsuit alleges that a “state-sanctioned version of the Ten Commandments … prefers and imposes a set of distinct religious norms” on students. It further argues that the students will be “coerced into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state’s favored religious Scripture” by displaying the text. 

It also claims that the law violates parental rights by jeopardizing their “ability to direct their children’s religious education and religious upbringing.”

“A state may not force religion upon a captive audience of young and impressionable students with varying religions — or none at all,” FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott said in a statement. “We look forward to protecting the constitutional rights of all families in Louisiana.”

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Louisiana, asks the court to rule that the law is unconstitutional. It also asks the court to immediately order that the state’s education officials not take any action to enforce the display mandate.

Chad Pecknold, a professor of systematic theology and theological politics at the Catholic University of America, told CNA that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that displays of the Ten Commandments are “not inherently unconstitutional” and that he does not see any First Amendment violations in the legislation.

“Displaying the Ten Commandments for educational purposes, as well as cultural memory, does not violate the First Amendment,” Pecknold said. “The Mosaic law has profoundly influenced the Western legal tradition, the Declaration of Independence, and not without import for this recent challenge, the abolition of slavery and the civil rights movement itself.”

Pecknold criticized the opponents of the law, arguing that they are “partisans of a new uncivil religion which seeks to obliterate our memory of law’s origin and end.”

The list of the Ten Commandments written into the law and required for display does not include the full Bible verses. 

Rather, it provides a list that pulls text from the verses; the translation used is close to the Protestant King James Version of the Bible, though not identical to it. The King James Version is not a translation approved by the Catholic Church. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops includes a list of approved English translations on its website.

Although the text does not number the commandments, it is structured according to the popular evangelical structure of the God-given directives rather than the structure commonly used by Catholics. 

Because neither the Book of Exodus nor the Book of Deuteronomy number the Ten Commandments, some traditions number them in alternate orders.