Under the bill, HB71, all classrooms receiving state funding would be required to prominently display the Bible text in a “large, easily readable font” on posters measuring 11 inches by 14 inches (28 cm by 35.5 cm) by 2025.
The commandments must be the “central focus” of the display, the Torah says.
The complaint, backed by civil rights groups, said the displays violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the separation of church and state and “pressures” students to adopt the state's preferred religion.
The plaintiffs, who include rabbis and pastors, wrote that the law “can never be reconciled with the fundamental principles of religious freedom upon which our nation was founded.”
“It sends a harmful and religiously divisive message that students who do not adhere to the Ten Commandments do not belong in their school community.”
The court papers also argue that the new law's core premise – that the Ten Commandments have long been linked to public education in the United States – is based in part on a misquote.
Louisiana lawmakers quoted fourth President James Madison in their legislation: “We have the entire future of our new nation… We bet on each person’s ability to govern themselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.”
“The quote was fabricated,” according to the lawsuit.
Governor Landry's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dodie Horton, the bill's Republican author, has previously said it was important to return “morality” to classrooms. “Hope seems to be in the air everywhere,” she said as the governor rubber-stamped the bill.
Horton's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Numerous legal battles have previously taken place over displaying the Ten Commandments in public buildings such as courthouses, police stations, and schools.
In the 1980 case Stone v Graham, the Supreme Court struck down a similar Kentucky law requiring documents to be posted in elementary and high schools. This precedent has been cited by groups challenging the Louisiana law.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court said the requirement “has no secular legislative purpose” and is “clearly religious in nature,” noting that the commandment refers to worshiping God.
