Ten Commandments won’t Go in Some Louisiana Classrooms until at Least November as Lawsuit Plays out
11:55 JST, July 20, 2024
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana won’t take official steps to implement a law requiring the Ten Commandments be placed in all of the state’s public school classrooms until at least November as a lawsuit makes its way through the courts, according to an agreement approved by a federal judge Friday.
The suit was filed in June by parents of Louisiana public school children with various religious backgrounds, who said the law violates First Amendment language forbidding government establishment of religion and guaranteeing religious liberty. Backers of the law argue that the Ten Commandments belong in classrooms because the commandments are historical and are part of the foundation of U.S. law.
The Louisiana law requires the commandments be posted no later than Jan. 1, a deadline unaffected by Friday’s agreement. The deal assures that the defendants in the lawsuit — state education officials and several local school boards — will not post the commandments in classrooms before Nov. 15, and won’t make rules governing the law’s implementation before then.
Lester Duhe, a spokesman for Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, said the defendants “agreed to not take public-facing compliance measures until November 15” to provide time for briefs, arguments and a ruling.
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says Congress can “make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The high court found that the law had no secular purpose but rather served a plainly religious purpose.
In 2005, the Supreme Court held that such displays in a pair of Kentucky courthouses violated the Constitution. At the same time, the court upheld a Ten Commandments marker on the grounds of the Texas state Capitol in Austin.
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.
The law also specifically authorizes but does not require other postings in public schools, including: The Mayflower Compact, which was signed by religious pilgrims aboard the Mayflower in 1620 and is often referred to as America’s “First Constitution”; the Declaration of Independence; and the Northwest Ordinance, which established a government in the Northwest Territory — in the present day Midwest — and created a pathway for admitting new states to the Union.
The legal challenge to the law came soon after it was signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican who succeeded two-term Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards in January. Landry’s inauguration marked a full takeover of state government by the GOP in a Bible Belt state where the party already held other every statewide elected position and a supermajority in the Legislature.
"News Services" POPULAR ARTICLE
-
British Rock Band Oasis to Reunite for 2025 Tour
-
China Stops Foreign Adoptions of its Children After Three Decades
-
TikTok’s Keith Lee Says D.C. Dining Is Too Boozy. Insiders Disagree.
-
Pope Opens Asia Odyssey with Stop in Indonesia to Rally Catholics, Hail Religious Freedom Tradition
-
Airlines Suspend Flights as Middle East Tensions Rise
JN ACCESS RANKING
- Philippines Steps Up Defense of Northernmost Province with Eye on Possible Contingency Involving Taiwan
- Typhoon Shanshan Forms, Slowly Moves Toward Japan; Govt Says Typhoon No. 10 Likely to Approach Japan Next Week
- Tokyo Companies Prepare for Ashfall From Mt. Fuji Eruption; Disposal Of Ash, Possibly at Sea, A Major Challenge
- Shizuoka Pref. City Offers Foreigners Free Japanese Language Classes; Aims to Raise Non-Natives to Daily Conversation Level
- Typhoon No. 10 Forecast to Develop; Move into Pacific Ocean South of Japan on Aug. 26