Louisiana will delay implementing a requirement that the Ten Commandments be placed in all of the state’s public school classrooms until at least November, according to an agreement approved by a federal judge Friday, reports The Associated Press.
A lawsuit was filed in June by parents of Louisiana public school children with various religious backgrounds, among them three Jewish families, who said the law violates First Amendment language forbidding government establishment of religion and guaranteeing religious liberty.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed the bill into law in June. It requires that the Ten Commandments be visible on a poster-size display in "large, easily readable font."
The law applies in all public classrooms from kindergarten to university. These displays would be required in all classrooms beginning in early 2025, and will also include a "context statement" describing how the Commandments were "prominent" in US public school education "for almost three centuries."
Backers of the law argue that the Ten Commandments belong in classrooms because the commandments are historical and are part of the foundation of US law.
The law requires that the commandments be posted by no later than January 1, a deadline unaffected by Friday’s agreement. The agreement assures that the defendants in the lawsuit — state education officials and several local school boards — will not post the commandments in classrooms before Nov. 15. Nor will they make rules governing the law’s implementation before then.
Lester Duhe, a spokesman for Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, said the defendants “agreed to not take public-facing compliance measures until November 15” to provide time for briefs, arguments and a ruling.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has said he supports the Ten Commandments law and added he thinks the law will survive legal challenges.
“I’m supportive of it, yeah,” Johnson recently told reporters. “And I think it should pass court muster. I think there’s a number of states trying to look to do the same thing, and I don’t think it’s offensive in any way. I think it’s a positive thing.”
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