An appeals court panel has unanimously ruled against a recently passed Louisiana law that requires the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools.
A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a decision on Friday upholding a lower court ruling against House Bill 71, which was passed last year.
Circuit Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez, a Biden appointee, authored the panel opinion, ruling that the law “inflicts significant practical harm on Plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights.”
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“As noted, if H.B. 71 goes into effect, Students will be subjected to unwelcome displays of the Ten Commandments for the entirety of their public school education. There is no opt-out option,” wrote Ramirez.
Americans United for Separation of Church & State, a progressive group that is helping to represent the families and clergy suing Louisiana, celebrated the appeals court panel ruling.
“This ruling will ensure that Louisiana families — not politicians or public-school officials — get to decide if, when and how their children engage with religion,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United, in a statement.
“It should send a strong message to Christian nationalists across the country that they cannot impose their beliefs on our nation’s public-school children. Not on our watch.”
Last June, Gov. Jeff Landry signed HB 71, which mandated that public school classrooms display a copy of the Ten Commandments that is at least 11 inches by 14 inches in size by January.
The new law also permitted public schools to display other historical documents, such as the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence and the Northwest Ordinance.
“If you want to respect the rule of law you’ve got to start from the original law given, which was Moses,” said Landry at the signing ceremony last year.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill championed the new law on social media shortly after it was signed, explaining that she would be honored to defend the legislation in court.
“The 10 Commandments are pretty simple (don’t kill, steal, cheat on your wife), but they also are important to our country’s foundations,” she tweeted. “Moses, who you may recall brought the 10 Commandments down from Mount Sinai, appears eight times in carvings that ring the United States Supreme Court Great Hall ceiling. I look forward to defending the law.”
Soon after HB 71 was signed into law, a coalition of progressive legal groups filed a complaint against Louisiana on behalf of an interfaith group of individuals with minor children enrolled in Louisiana public schools.
