A New Orleans teacher has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on Louisiana’s law requiring schools to post the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
Chris Dier, a history teacher at Benjamin Franklin High School and a former Louisiana teacher of the year, first sued the state over the law in 2024, before it took effect.
Dier said in his petition to the Supreme Court on Tuesday that he will not display the Ten Commandments in his classroom, even if it means losing his job.
He is the only teacher to challenge the law and similar laws in other states. His attorneys said in filings that he “supplies the perspective missing from every other case.”
According to his petition, Dier, who was raised a devout Catholic and attended a Baptist university, does not disagree with the Ten Commandments. He objects to the state endorsing the document.
“A requirement to post any version of the Ten Commandments on the walls of my classroom would violate my religious beliefs and teaching philosophy,” Dier said.
He said the law forces him to “proselytize a specific Protestant Christian translation of the Ten Commandments to my students,” a version that is not shared by all Christians, Jews or Muslims.
@chrisdier Why I’m suing Gov Jeff Landry. My decision to serve as a plaintiff is a stance against Christian nationalism and for constitutional rights. #fyp #foryoupage #tencommandments #hb71 #christiannationalism #firstamendment #establishmentclause #constitution #louisiana #jefflandry #teachersoftiktok ♬ original sound - Chris Dier
A federal judge dismissed Dier’s initial lawsuit in April as premature. The same happened to a separate lawsuit filed by nine families and multiple civil rights groups.
Both lawsuits argued that by posting a specific version of the text, the state endorses a specific religion and coerces children to follow it, violating the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom and the separation of church and state.
But the Ten Commandments are now on display in many schools.
“Louisiana public schools should follow the law,” Attorney General Liz Murrill said in an email when asked about Dier’s petition.
Previously, she vowed to defend it to the Supreme Court, if necessary.
Murrill has said the law has a secular purpose: to expose students to an important historical document.
Supporters of these laws saw an opportunity to revisit this issue — which was previously decided in the 1980s — after a 2022 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a high school football coach who prayed on the 50-yard line, sometimes with players.
The court abandoned the legal standard it had used for more than 50 years to determine whether a law violated the separation of church and state.
Parents in Texas asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on its law earlier this month. Alabama and Arkansas also have laws, but they aren’t in full effect yet.
The court receives thousands of petitions each year and only reviews about 70.
This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.
