A federal judge in Louisiana has ruled that a new state law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in all public classrooms is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles stated that the law has an “overtly religious” purpose and ordered state education officials not to enforce it. Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill has said she will appeal the ruling.
The judge’s decision applies only to five local school boards named in the lawsuit, leaving the state’s other 67 school systems subject to the law. Murrill believes the ruling could create confusion for these other school boards and hopes that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will stay the order quickly. Supporters of the law argue that the Ten Commandments have historical significance to U.S. law, but opponents claim it violates the First Amendment’s provisions on religion in schools.
Similar laws have been proposed in other states, but none have been enacted due to legal challenges over their constitutionality. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Kentucky law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments was unconstitutional, citing a lack of secular purpose.
Louisiana’s law requires that the Ten Commandments be displayed on a poster or framed document in all public K-12 schools and state-funded university classrooms. Proponents say schools are not required to spend public money on the posters, and donations can be used to acquire them.
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