Louisiana’s controversial new law requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public schools will not be going into effect come January, after all. A federal judge temporarily blocked it Tuesday, Nov. 12, while the case — brought by a coalition of parents — plays out.
That judge called the law “unconstitutional” and barred the state from enforcing it. The law would have required a copy of the Ten Commandments be displayed in all public school and university classrooms throughout the state.
Now, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office must notify all schools it’s been ruled unconstitutional.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has said she expects the case could go to the U.S. Supreme Court, which last weighed in on the issue in 1980. The justices then ruled 5 to 4 that Kentucky’s posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools was unconstitutional.
However, the makeup of the Supreme Court has changed since then. In 1980, it was split almost evenly between conservative and liberal justices with one centrist who usually ended up the swing vote. Now, conservatives hold a majority in the Supreme Court.
Supporters of the law argue the Ten Commandments belong in public schools because they are historical and part of the foundation of United States law.