Louisiana is now allowed to proceed with a law that requires public schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.
The law remains largely intact for now, but only five school districts involved in pending litigation of the measure will not be required to exhibit the religious text by January 1. Louisiana’s remaining 67 school districts will have to comply.
On Tuesday, a federal judge said the law requiring classroom displays of the Ten Commandments by next year is unconstitutional. U.S. District Court judge John deGravelles therefore prohibited Louisiana from enforcing the measure that mandates all 72 public K-12 schools and colleges in the state to display posters or framed documents of the Ten Commandments.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, however, determined that the judge’s preliminary injunction only affects five school boards. Those defendants named in the lawsuit are the East Baton Rouge Parish, Livingston Parish, St. Tammany Parish, Orleans Parish, and Vernon Parish school boards.
The panel blocked a portion of the lower court’s ruling that required state education officials to notify all public-school districts in the state that the Ten Commandments law was deemed unconstitutional. State attorneys asked for an immediate pause of the notification requirement as they appeal deGravelles’s order.
Friday’s order is a temporary administrative stay, meaning it may be changed as the appeal plays out in court. Two Republican-appointed judges voted to grant the stay, while an Obama-appointed judge did not approve of the state’s emergency motion.
Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill praised the appeals court’s decision.
“The Fifth Circuit grants our motion to BLOCK the district court’s attempt to enjoin the Ten Commandments law statewide,” Murrill posted on X. “I look forward to immediately working with all of our school boards who are not involved in this lawsuit to implement the law soon.”‘
The state filed a broader appeal later Friday night after its motion was granted.
Meanwhile, nine families who challenged the state law allege Louisiana violated their First Amendment right to practice religious freedom and encroached on the separation of church and state. They filed the lawsuit days after Republican governor Jeff Landry signed the bill into law in June.
The plaintiffs — who are a mix of Jewish, Christian, Unitarian Universalist, and nonreligious parents — are represented by counsel from the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU’s Louisiana chapter, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Freedom from Religion Foundation, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.
Louisiana became the first state to require the exhibition of the Ten Commandments in public-school classrooms since the Supreme Court struck down a similar Kentucky law in the 1980 case, Stone v. Graham. Given the precedent set in that case, Murrill expects the Louisiana suit to go before the Supreme Court.
The Republican attorney general has said the posters will be paid through private donations, not public education funds. Still, questions remain on what exactly happens when teachers and schools refuse to comply with the law.
The measure follows another Louisiana law that requires the display of the religious motto, “In God We Trust,” in all classrooms. That law went into effect in August 2023.