“Thy Law Shall Be Seen”: Federal Appeals Court Clears Way for Ten Commandments in Louisiana Classrooms

NEW ORLEANS — In a seismic legal ruling that could reshape the intersection of faith and public education across the American South, a deeply divided federal appeals court has given Louisiana the green light to become the first state in nearly half a century to mandate the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. The 11-7 decision by the full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday overturned a lower court’s injunction, ruling that it was simply “premature” to declare the Republican-backed law unconstitutional before local school boards have even had a chance to hang the first poster. The ruling sends the case back to district court, effectively allowing the 2024 law, known as H.B. 71, to take effect immediately while legal battles continue over how—and whether—the ancient religious texts will be displayed alongside modern math equations.

The decision has ignited a furious legal and cultural firestorm, pitting the state’s Republican leadership against civil liberties groups who warn that children will now be “exposed to government-endorsed religion in a setting of compulsory attendance.” Writing for the sharply divided majority, the court’s Republican appointees argued that without knowing the specific context—how prominently the displays will appear, or whether teachers will reference them—a blanket ban was impossible. In a blistering dissent, Judge James Dennis accused his colleagues of employing a “calculated stratagem” to evade decades of Supreme Court precedent, warning that the ruling forces families into a “game of constitutional whack-a-mole” across 70 different school districts. While Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill celebrated that “don’t kill or steal shouldn’t be controversial,” the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State vowed to fight on, setting the stage for a potential blockbuster showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court that could finally test the durability of the 1980 precedent that struck down a similar Kentucky law.