Louisiana passed a law requiring all public classrooms to display The Ten Commandments.
The southern state has become the first in the country to introduce the policy under a bill signed into law by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Wednesday.
The GOP-drafted legislation mandates that the display must be in “large, easily readable font” in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities.
Although the bill did not receive final approval from Landry, the time for the governor’s action (signing or vetoing the bill) has passed.
Opponents question the constitutionality of the law, and the ACLU has already announced that it has already filed a lawsuit against Louisiana.
Louisiana passed a law requiring all classrooms to display The Ten Commandments. Pictured: Workers repaint a Ten Commandments sign along Interstate 71 on Election Day near Chenoweth, Ohio, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023.
“The law violates the separation of church and state and is blatantly unconstitutional,” the ACLU said in a statement.
‘The First Amendment promises that we will all be able to decide for ourselves what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice, without pressure from the government.
“Politicians do not have to impose their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools.”
Proponents say the purpose of the measure is not solely religious, but has historical significance.
In the language of the law, the Ten Commandments are described as “fundamental documents of our state and national government.”
The southern state has become the first in the country to introduce the policy under a bill signed into law by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry on Wednesday.
The exhibits, which will be paired with a four-paragraph ‘context statement’ describing how the Ten Commandments ‘were a prominent part of American public education for nearly three centuries,’ are due to be installed in classrooms by early 2025.
The posters would be funded by donations. State funds will not be used to implement the mandate, according to the language of the legislation.
The law also “authorizes”—but does not require—display of the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance in K-12 public schools.
Similar bills have been proposed in other states requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms. TexasOklahoma and Utah.
However, threats of legal battles over the constitutionality of such measures have quashed attempts in other states.
Legal battles over the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms are not new.
The GOP-drafted legislation mandates that the display must be in “large, easily readable font” in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities. Pictured: Workers remove a Ten Commandments monument at West Union High School on June 9, 2003, in West Union, Ohio.
In 1980, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law was unconstitutional and violated the establishment clause of the United States Constitution, which says that Congress may “make no law respecting an establishment of religion” .
The high court determined that the law had no secular purpose, but rather had a clearly religious purpose.
The controversial Louisiana law, in a Bible Belt state, comes during a new era of conservative leadership in the state under Landry, who replaced two-term Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards in January.
The GOP also has a two-thirds supermajority in the Legislature, and Republicans hold all elected offices statewide, paving the way for lawmakers to push a conservative agenda during the legislative session that concluded earlier this month.