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Legal Fight over Louisiana’s Ten Commandments Law Continues

October 23, 2024

A federal district court judge heard arguments and testimony Monday in a case that will decide the constitutionality of a Louisiana law allowing the Ten Commandments to be posted in classrooms across the state. Experts say legal challenges to the law will likely fail due to court precedent and the widespread display of the Ten Commandments in government buildings.

The legal battle revolves around Louisiana House Bill No. 71, which was signed into law in June by Governor Jeff Landry (R). The bill stipulates that by January 1, 2025, all K-12 public schools, charter schools, and state universities and colleges place a poster of the Ten Commandments in their classrooms. The measure further specifies that no federal dollars are to be used to fund the mandate, which will instead rely on donations and gifts of Ten Commandments posters.

During the 1950s and ’60s, the Ten Commandments were commonly displayed in courthouses and school rooms across the country. But in 1980, the Supreme Court ruled in Stone v. Graham that a Kentucky statute requiring the display of the commandments in schools violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, despite the fact that the displays were purchased with private funds. In the wake of the ruling, Supreme Court precedent in the matter has become less clear as a result of recent decisions like Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, which ruled that the government cannot suppress religious expression in public settings.

In addition, proponents of the Louisiana law say that the purpose of displaying the Ten Commandments is not meant to push a specific Christian viewpoint but is grounded in the history of U.S. law.

“[O]ne of the things that the legislature recognized in this legislation and that the Supreme Court has recognized [is] that the Ten Commandments have historical significance as one of the foundations of our legal system,” Ben Aguiñaga, solicitor general of Louisiana, emphasized during “Washington Watch” Tuesday.

He continued, “I say that’s not controversial, because there was a decision called American Legion [v. American Humanist Association] from the Supreme Court in 2019 where you had five justices — Justice[s] Alito, Roberts, Kavanaugh, Breyer, and Kagan — who joined in that statement that the Ten Commandments have historic significance as one of the foundations of our legal system. So the legislature was well within its means to say, ‘We would like Louisiana students to understand the role that those commandments played in the foundation of our system.”

Opponents of the Louisiana law include Steven Green, an attorney associated with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who testified on Monday that there is no connection between the Ten Commandments and the founding of America.

Aguiñaga strongly disagreed. “[I]t’s not [a] relevant [argument],” he contended. “The Supreme Court has never said that an expert gets to dictate how a federal judge does his job in deciding what the law is. [T]hat was our whole point is the court shouldn’t even be considering this as expert testimony, because that kind of testimony is simply inappropriate in a case like this.”

“[N]umber two, he’s just inaccurate,” Aguiñaga insisted. “I think one of the most telling points of the examination of that witness is that when asked if his opinion was directly contrary to binding Supreme Court precedent, he said yes. He admitted on the stand that his view is directly contrary to what those five justices in American Legion said about the Ten Commandments.”

“[A]s a factual matter,” he went on, “anybody who’s been to Washington, D.C. would reject his opinion out of hand because Moses and the Ten Commandments are all over Washington, D.C. They’re in the Supreme Court courtroom. They’re on the gates, the doors to the courtroom. They’re in the House — Moses is the centerpiece of the House of Representatives. … So this idea that the Ten Commandments and Moses have had no impact on American history and the American legal system is just … wrong.”

Aguiñaga concluded by expressing hope that the court proceedings will be resolved before the end of the year.

“[The judge] said he would issue a decision by November 15th, and we’ve asked him to move expeditiously. So if we need to, we’ll go to the Fifth Circuit for emergency relief. There’s a second case also pending in New Orleans, this one brought by a teacher. That case will be ripe for decision on November 6th, and so we’ll be awaiting a decision in that case as well. There’s a January 1st compliance deadline for schools in Louisiana, and so we hope that by the end of the year, schools will have clear legal guidance that they may and should and must comply with HB 71.”

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.



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