US court rules Ten Commandments law ‘unconstitutional’

The Louisiana bill targeting public schools and universities violates religious freedoms, a federal judge has ruled

A federal court in the US state of Louisiana has declared unconstitutional a law requiring that Christianity’s Ten Commandments be displayed in all public schools across the southern state by the new year. The statute was previously praised by US President-elect Donald Trump.

The legislation, enacted in June by Louisiana’s Republican governor Jeff Landry, requires all state-funded primary and secondary schools, as well as universities, to post the commandments in “large, easily readable font” in every classroom by January 1, 2025. Louisiana is the only US state to have adopted such a law.

Trump commended the law at the time, describing it as a possible “first major step in the revival of religion, which is desperately needed in our country.”

Tuesday’s blocking of the statute, which comes just days after Trump’s re-election, was made by Federal Judge John deGravelles, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama.

Judge deGravelles described the law as “unconstitutional on its face,” as well as “discriminatory” and “coercive.” He added that the statute violated the religious rights of people who opposed such displays.

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The Ten Commandments is the Biblical set of principles seen as the essence of Christianity. Proponents of the Louisiana law argued it would reinstate a former relic of “state and national history, culture, and tradition” in the state’s public education spaces.

The legal challenge to the statute was launched by a multi-faith group of several Louisiana families shortly after its adoption. The plaintiffs, among whom were Jewish, Christian, and non-religious families, cited a 1980 US Supreme Court decision voiding similar legislation in another southern state, Kentucky.

The court ruled at the time that the separation of church and state guaranteed by the US Constitution bars public schools from posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

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Another southern state, Oklahoma, is facing similar lawsuits over a requirement that the Bible be part of lesson plans in public schools and be stocked in every classroom.