The judge said the law is “unconstitutional on its face” and plaintiffs are likely to win their case with claims that the law violates the First Amendment.
U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles in Baton Rouge, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2014, issued the order in an ongoing lawsuit filed by a group of parents of Louisiana public school children. They say that the legislation violates First Amendment language forbidding government establishment of religion and guaranteeing religious liberty.
The ruling marks a win for opponents of the law, who argue that it is a violation of the separation of church and state and that the poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments would isolate students, especially those who are not Christian. Proponents say that the measure is not solely religious, but that it has historical significance to the foundation of U.S. law.
The new law in Louisiana was passed by the state's GOP-dominated Legislature earlier this year.
Louisiana’s legislation, which applies to all public K-12 school and state-funded university classrooms, requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed on a poster or framed document at least 11 inches by 14 inches (28 by 36 centimeters) where the text is the central focus and “printed in a large, easily readable font.”
Each poster must be paired with the four-paragraph “context statement” describing how the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.”
