Louisiana’s attorney general says she will appeal all the way to the Supreme Court a federal appellate panel’s ruling blocking the state’s new law requiring the Ten Commandments be posted in public school classrooms.
The panel of three judges on Friday ruled the law unconstitutional, upholding a lower federal court injunction blocking enforcement of the law.
In their 50 page opinion, the judges wrote, “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.”
In a statement released to news outlets, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said she and her team “strongly disagree” with the ruling.
“We will immediately seek relief from the full Fifth Circuit and, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court,” she said. She also claimed the ruling was limited.
According to Nola, the web-based edition of the New Orleans Times-Picayune:
Murrill argued that the ruling, which upheld a U.S. District Court’s preliminary injunction in November blocking enforcement of the law, only applies to the five school districts where the plaintiffs’ children attend school: East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Orleans, St. Tammany, and Vernon.
The attorney general is grappling with an ongoing national debate this year as to whether local federal judges can dictate laws to an entire state or the entire U.S.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs have argued that any school district that complies with a state law that the circuit courts have declared unconstitutional would be subject to legal action.
“All school districts in the state are bound to comply with the U.S. Constitution,” said Liz Hayes, a spokesperson for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which served as co-counsel for the plaintiffs. “Thus, all school districts must abide by this decision and should not post the Ten Commandments in their classrooms.”
Louisiana’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed the law last year, igniting once again the perennial national debate over religion’s proper place in public life.
Detractors argue the law shatters the divide between church and state and effectively restricts religious freedom and subjects non-believers to religious education.
As Breitbart News has reported, supporters including President Donald Trump and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry who signed the bill into law last June say it reflects America’s Judeo-Christian roots and a public interest in historical literacy.
A multi faith group of public-school parents sued in federal court after the law went into effect, saying the mandate violates students’ First Amendment right to practice their faith free of government interference.
“This is a resounding victory for the separation of church and state and public education,” Heather L. Weaver, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Associated Press (AP). “With today’s ruling, the Fifth Circuit has held Louisiana accountable to a core constitutional promise: Public schools are not Sunday schools, and they must welcome all students, regardless of faith.”
AP reported that the panel of judges reviewing the case was unusually liberal for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In a court with more than twice as many Republican-appointed judges, two of the three judges involved in the ruling were appointed by Democratic presidents.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
