The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms.
Because the Ten Commandments are both religiously and historically significant, their “dual character forecloses any categorical rule against their display on public property,” the ruling states. While the law sets standards for the display, how they will be implemented is left “entirely to the discretion of local school boards.”
“We do not know, for example, how prominently the displays will appear, what other materials might accompany them, or how—if at all— teachers will reference them during instruction. More fundamentally, we do not even know the full content of the displays themselves,” the ruling explains. “Although the statute requires inclusion of the Commandments and a context statement, it expressly permits additional content —such as ‘the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance’—to appear alongside them.”
The court noted, however, that nothing in the “narrow holding prevents future as-applied challenges once the statute is implemented and a concrete factual record exists.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement following the decision, “Don’t kill or steal shouldn’t be controversial. My office has issued clear guidance to our public schools on how to comply with the law, and we have created multiple examples of posters demonstrating how it can be applied constitutionally. Louisiana public schools should follow the law.”
Governor Jeff Landry (R) similarly stated that the “Ten Commandments law is back in effect. Schools and state agencies should continue following the guidance that has already been issued.”
