Louisiana’s attorney general asked a federal court on Monday to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the rollout of the state’s new law requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public school classrooms.
The lawsuit, brought by a group of nine multi-faith Louisiana families, was “prematurely” filed, according to Attorney General Liz Murrill, because the Ten Commandments haven’t been posted yet.
“No defendant has actually posted the Ten Commandments on the classroom wall,” Murrill said. “Because this lawsuit is all based on hypothetical facts, the court can’t decide this case yet.”
The AG’s push to throw out the case is the latest procedural step in a legal battle over the implementation of Louisiana’s new law, which Gov. Jeff Landry signed in June. It requires public schools display the Ten Commandments, a religious text used in multiple sects of Christianity and Judaism, in every classroom as “a poster or framed document that is at least eleven inches by fourteen inches.”
The Commandments must be the “central focus” of the display and “printed in a large, easily readable font,”, according to the law, which takes effect on Jan. 1 of next year.
Plaintiffs sued Landry’s administration in June in an attempt to block enforcement, alleging that the new law violates their rights to freedom of religion under the First Amendment. The families are represented by a coalition of legal groups, including the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the ACLU of Louisiana.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs did not respond to a request for comment on the AG’s request for dismissal by publication. The group has said in past statements that parents don’t want the state involved in their children's’ religious education.
Other states have tried to pass similar laws throughout U.S. history. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law was unconstitutional and violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says Congress can “make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
Louisiana is the only state with a mandate in place, though others, including Texas, Oklahoma and Utah, have attempted to pass similar requirements.
Murrill’s office previously agreed not to take steps to implement the law until the group’s lawsuit worked its way through the courts. But Monday’s brief filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana attempts to throw the challenge out altogether on the basis that it can’t apply to every type of Ten Commandments display, Murrill said.
“There are countless ways to constitutionally comply with the law,” Murrill said at a press conference alongside Landry and flanked by posters featuring the Commandments.
“The plaintiffs have to show that every application of this law is unconstitutional,” Murrill said. “They cannot meet that burden.”
Landry and Murrill have been ardent supporters of the law since its passage, defending its rollout on conservative media and in public press conferences. On Monday, they remained adamant that schools still need to be in compliance by Jan. 2025.
No public funds will be spent on creating Ten Commandments displays, Murrill said. Instead, the state will rely on outside donations. She did not specify where from.
Landry also spoke Monday, repeating his argument that many government buildings already display the Ten Commandments.
“So really truly, I don't see what the whole big fuss is about,” he said. “If those posters are in school and parents find them too forward, tell the child not to look at it.”
Murrill’s request for dismissal must now go in front of a judge who will decide whether to throw out the case or let it keep moving through the courts.
This story was edited by Aubri Juhasz.
