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Hearing opens on whether Louisiana's Ten Commandments law is constitutional
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BATON ROUGE — A federal judge opened a hearing Monday on whether Louisiana can legally require its public schools and universities to post a copy of the Ten Commandments on classroom walls.
A university professor who teaches law and religious studies, who was called as an expert by the handful of people challenging a new law, said that while the Ten Commandments are often cited as being behind the nation's laws, they weren't intended to be specific statutes.
"Influence is indirect at best," Steven K. Green of Willamette University testified. He said that the nation's original leaders believed the country should be "hands-off" when dealing with religion, countering arguments United States was founded as a Christian nation.
"We have a lot of founding myths. This is one of them," he said.
A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union challenges the new state mandate that every site of public education in Louisiana post a specific version of the Ten Commandments. Different religions have different versions.
"Neither my husband nor I follow that particular role of the Ten Commandments. In addition, without context, there might be a lot of questions that the teacher might not be able to answer themselves," Rev. Darcy Roake, a named plaintiff, said. "It matters what we see every day, it matters to me what my children see every day. That's why I want that separation. That is for my husband and I to have that conversation, not the school system."
In a statement on the eve of the trial, the ACLU said the law "unconstitutionally pressure students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture. It also sends the harmful and religiously divisive message that students who do not subscribe to the Ten Commandments."
Gov. Jeff Landry signed the law in June of 2024 making the displays mandatory for all public schools.
Opponents said some of the commandments seem a stretch for some of those who will read them.
“Why should a kindergartener be told 'Thou shall not commit adultery?' Why does that make the top 10? That’s absurd, that little children would be exposed to some concept like adultery,” Annie Laurie Gaylor, Co-President of Freedom from Religion Foundation, said.
Proponents of the law, such as Attorney General Liz Murrill, say the commandments are part of the country's foundation.
"The 10 Commandments are pretty simple (don’t kill, steal, cheat on your wife), but they also are important to our country’s foundations. 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," Murrill said in a statement.
The law was initially scheduled to take full effect in January.
Monday's hearing will determine whether the law will be put on hold until federal courts issue a final ruling on whether the law violates the United States Constitution. Both sides previously said that no action would be taken toward posting the Ten Commandments until mid-November.
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