Commandment Display Law Blocked for Now

Last April, Louisiana passed a law mandating prominent display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom in the state. It was challenged by concerned parents almost immediately on constitutional grounds.

Yesterday, a federal judge declared the law unconstitutional:

The proper place to display the Ten Commandments is on private property, at the owner's expense. (Image by Bill Gullo, via Unsplash, license.)

[U.S. District Judge John] deGravelles said Louisiana's law conflicted with a 1980 U.S. Supreme Court decision voiding a similar law in Kentucky, and violated the religious rights of people who opposed the displays.

He also said the law would pressure children in public schools into adopting Louisiana's preferred religious teachings while attending school at least 177 days per year.

"Each of the plaintiffs' minor children will be forced in every practical sense, through Louisiana's required attendance policy, to be a 'captive audience,'" the Baton Rouge-based judge wrote.

"The issue is whether, as a matter of law, there is any constitutional way to display the Ten Commandments in accordance with [Louisiana's law],'" he added. "In short, the court finds that there is not."

The decision will, of course, be appealed.

The appeal will go to the conservative fifth circuit in New Orleans.

An interesting aspect of deGravelles's decision is that it found the law unconstitutional even under a recent Supreme Court ruling on prayer at public high school games in Washington on the basis of there being "no broader tradition" of using the Commandments in public education.

I wouldn't trust the current Court to agree with such reasoning if this case makes it that far.

-- CAV