BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana's attorney general announced Monday that she is asking a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the state’s new law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom by Jan. 1.
The suit was filed in June by parents of Louisiana public school children with various religious backgrounds who contend the law violates First Amendment language forbidding government establishment of religion and guaranteeing religious liberty. Proponents of the law argue that it is not solely religious but that the Ten Commandments have historical significance to the foundation of U.S. law.
As kids in Louisiana prepare to return to school this month, state officials presented large examples of posters featuring the Ten Commandments that Attorney General Liz Murrill argues “constitutionally comply with the law.” The Republican said she is not aware of any school districts that have begun to implement the mandate, as the posters “haven't been produced yet.”
Murrill said the court brief being filed, which was not immediately available, argues that “the lawsuit is premature and the plaintiffs cannot prove that they have any actual injury.”
“That’s because they don’t allege to have seen any displays yet and they certainly can’t allege that they have seen any display of the Ten Commandments that violates their constitutional rights," she added.
Murrill pointed to more than a dozen posters on display during Monday's press conference to support her argument that the displays can be done constitutionally. Some of the posters featured quotes or images of famous figures — late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Martin Luther King Jr., Moses and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson.
No matter what the poster looked like, the main focal point was the Ten Commandments. Additionally, each display, at the bottom in small print, included a "context statement” that describes how the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.”
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed the legislation in June — making Louisiana the only state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in the classrooms of all public schools and state-funded universities. The measure was part of a slew of conservative priorities that became law this year in Louisiana.
When asked what he would say to parents who are upset about the Ten Commandments being displayed in their child's classroom, the governor replied: “If those posters are in school and they (parents) find them so vulgar, just tell the child not to look at it.”
In an agreement reached by the court and state last month, the five schools specifically listed in the lawsuit will not post the commandments in classrooms before Nov. 15 and won’t make rules governing the law’s implementation before then. The deadline to comply, Jan. 1, 2025, remains in place for schools across the state.
Louisiana’s new law does not require school systems to spend public money on Ten Commandments posters. It allows the systems to accept donated posters or money to pay for the displays. Questions still linger about how the requirement will be enforced and what happens if there are not enough donations to fund the mandate.
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