A Ten Commandments sculpture is on display in front of city hall June 27, 2001 in Grand Junction, Colorado.(Michael Smith/Getty Images)
The entire U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeal will weigh the legality of Louisiana’s law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all classrooms. A procedural order issued Monday vacates a prior ruling from a three-judge panel that declared the law unconstitutional.
The Louisiana Legislature and Gov. Jeff Landry approved the measure in 2024, and it was set to take effect at the start of this year until a group of parents filed suit against the state. A federal district court put enforcement on hold in the plaintiffs’ respective parishes while the case made its way through court.
On June 20, a 5th Circuit panel ruled that the law violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which bars the government from endorsing a religion or creating laws that favor one religion over another. Judge Irma Castillo Ramirez, who former President Joe Biden appointed to the appellate court, wrote the opinion. Judges James Dennis, a Bill Clinton appointee, and Catharina Haynes, who George W. Bush chose for the court, affirmed the decision.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, who is defending the case, said at the time she intended to seek an en banc hearing on the case from all 17 appellate court judges – and appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
“Glad to see the Fifth Circuit is taking this en banc,” Murrill said in a statement Monday. “Looking forward to those arguments in court.”
The plaintiffs consist of nine families with children who attend public schools across five parishes — East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Orleans, St. Tammany and Vernon. They represent a range of religious and non-religious beliefs, including Catholics, Presbyterians, Jews, Unitarians and others. They have argued the Protestant version of the Ten Commandments the Legislature adopted differs from the versions they follow.
Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State are representing the plaintiffs.
Through Americans United, the plaintiffs issued a joint response Monday evening in response to the 5th Circuit’s latest order.
“The panel’s unanimous ruling last June was well reasoned and correctly followed binding Supreme Court precedent. We believe there is no reason to revisit it,” the statement reads. “Nevertheless, we look forward to presenting our clients’ case to the entire court of appeals, and we remain confident that the constitutional values and principles at the heart of the First Amendment, which guarantee religious freedom for all students and families, will prevail in the end.”
A date for the full 5th Circuit hearing has not been set.
Gov. Landry has been among the most ardent supporters of the law that calls for 11-inch by 14-inch posters of the Ten Commandments to be placed in every classroom. Schools do not have to spend their own money to acquire the posters, but they can accept donated versions.
“I can’t wait to be sued,” Landry told the crowd at a Republican fundraiser in Tennessee after signing the law.
When asked later about students who don’t have Judeo-Christian beliefs, the governor said they shouldn’t look at the posters.
“I think we’ve forgotten in this country that democracy actually means majority rule,” Landry said at the time
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