In June, Louisiana passed a controversial law requiring all classrooms in all public schools, from kindergarten to college, to display the 10 Commandments on their walls. Unsurprisingly, the measure is being challenged in court. The case promises to be controversial and could change precedent for the entire country.
Schools have until 1er January to comply with the new law, but could already display the decalogue in classrooms at the start of the school year. Faced with a request for an injunction to suspend the application of the law, state officials delayed its implementation until November 15, after the scheduled hearing before the judge.
The challenge to the law passed on June 19th came as no surprise. For the religious camp, galvanized by favorable decisions from the Supreme Court, it is a test that could confirm its claims.
“If this case goes to the Supreme Court, I think it could set a remarkable precedent that would tell people in the United States that this is exactly what they’re allowed to do,” said Matt Krause, a consulting attorney at First Liberty Institute, in Fort Worth, Texas.
The conservative Christian organization focuses on religious freedom issues. Its lawyers, for example, filed a brief for the Supreme Court in support of a bakery’s refusal to provide wedding cakes to gay couples.
Mr. Krause said he was “very confident” about his chances of getting a favorable ruling if the school decalogue law also went to the country’s highest court.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of religious organizations in 81 percent of religious liberty cases brought between 2005, when John Roberts became chief justice, and 2021, professors Lee Epstein and Eric A. Posner found in a 2021 analysis in review Supreme Court Review.
For the period between 1953 and 2005, decisions were favorable to the religious camp in approximately 50% of cases.
“Provocateurs”
Louisiana’s new requirement joins other controversial Christian initiatives that have been passed recently. A new directive in Oklahoma, for example, requires public schools to teach the Bible and the 10 Commandments. Florida has passed a law to allow chaplains to counsel students in public schools.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry told donors he “looks forward to being sued” about his new law, according to the Tennessean.
State legislators are intentionally provocative in order to get their laws and cases before the Supreme Court, and the 10 Commandments in Louisiana are a prime example of this.
Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AUSCS), reached in Washington
The organization, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and others, filed a lawsuit against the state on behalf of 14 Louisiana parents and their children.
Decision of 2022
But why did Louisiana decide to require the posting of the 10 Commandments in classrooms, when a 1980 Supreme Court decision had already ruled that such a law violated the Constitution? Because its defenders are hoping for a new interpretation following a favorable ruling in another religious case.
We are trying to go back to the pre-1980 way of doing things for the 10 Commandments – and we can do it, because the test [utilisé depuis 1971 par la Cour suprême pour analyser les causes de liberté religieuse] was rejected with the Kennedy cause in 2022. It created all kinds of favorable opportunities that we didn’t have before.
Matt Krause, consulting attorney at First Liberty Institute
The “Kennedy case” is a decision involving the firing of a high school football coach for his on-field prayers. Joe Kennedy was defended by the First Liberty Institute. The conservative majority ruled against the school district and questioned the parameters used in the past to judge such issues.
For Mr. Krause, a former member of the Texas House of Representatives, the decision is as decisive and historic for religious freedom as the ruling handed down the same week against guaranteeing the right to abortion “is for the pro-life movement.”
Strategies
Organizations on both sides of the issue are adjusting their strategies based on legal interpretations.
Mr. Krause defends the “historical” aspect of the Decalogue – tradition and history have been put forward by the Supreme Court to justify recent decisions on religious freedom.
The AUSCS “argues that the separation of church and state is protective for everyone,” explains Mme Laser, noting that the plaintiffs in the Louisiana case are intentionally people of different faiths and non-religious people.
Political debates
“In the United States, we fight a lot of our political battles through the legal system,” observes Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, a political science professor at Northwestern University, in Chicago.
The debate over religious freedom issues is a way to mobilize the troops in a particularly tense election year.
“I see the Louisiana law as part of a larger movement to bring attention to issues around public displays of Christianity, and it’s part of a left versus right, Republican versus Democrat, culture war where both sides get heated and angry,” she adds.
The story so far
- June 28, 1971: A Supreme Court decision introduces a way of analyzing respect for religious neutrality.
- June 27, 2022: Coach fired after prayers wins case. In its decision, the Supreme Court wrote that it abandoned the 1971 approach that failed to take into account historical context.
- June 19, 2024: Louisiana Governor signs law requiring the 10 Commandments to be displayed in schools, in frames “at least 11 inches by 14 inches.”
- 1er January 2025: Deadline by which all Louisiana schools must have posted the Decalogue, paid for by donations.