Louisiana Forced to Delay Ten Commandments Display Mandate

While Louisiana had originally announced that it planned to enforce the display mandate for the Ten Commandments in certain classrooms, the state has been forced to step back and delay these plans due to a lawsuit. This is a lawsuit that most people saw coming, and it involves the constitutionality of the state’s new religious mandate. As with similar actions taken by other states, the main barrier is the Supreme Court. The nation’s highest court will need to determine whether this is allowed. 

The Display Mandate for the Ten Commandments Will Go into Effect no Sooner Than November of 2024

Due to a new lawsuit, Louisiana will have to wait until at least November of this year to implement its Ten Commandments display mandate. The lawsuit was filed by concerned parents who value the separation of church and state. However, other organizations will likely become involved in this lawsuit – including the ACLU. 

Although Louisiana planned to get started on this new law with the beginning of the next school year in September, the law officially mandates a start date of January of 2025 at the latest. This deadline seems to suggest that Louisiana had predicted that a lawsuit of this type might arise. 

Whether they predicted it or not, a lawsuit from parents was essentially guaranteed. There was no way to avoid at least a handful of these individuals becoming concerned about the division of church and state. 

Religious or Historical Document?

If this is true, then the State of Louisiana likely has legal strategies prepared for this specific lawsuit. This could imply that the state has been planning this move for some time. 

Their argument will likely highlight the “historical value” of the Ten Commandments. In other words, Louisiana is (at least on paper) not trying to educate children about religion – it is trying to educate children about the role of the Ten Commandments in the establishment of US law. 

Louisiana will also undoubtedly highlight the fact that no public funds will be used for this endeavor. According to the law, posters of the Ten Commandments will be donated by the public. This, in theory, would overcome the Constitutional barrier against using public funds for religious education in schools. 

Whether the Supreme Court actually accepts these arguments is not yet clear. One can only guess how the Supreme Court will rule, and its decisions have perhaps been less predictable than in previous years. The overturning of certain decisions has created the impression that the Supreme Court is more likely to rule in ways that satisfy religious conservatives. 

Supreme Court Precedent

PBS notes that in 2005, the Supreme Court decided that Texas had the right to create a Ten Commandments marker outside its Capitol building. In this case, the marker was donated by a private organization: The Fraternal Order of Eagles – and this perhaps explains why the Supreme Court ruled favorably. However, the marker was still installed on public premises. In the end, this sparked a major debate between the Supreme Court justices. 

The Goal of the Universal Life Church’s Blog

Each week, the Universal Life Church’s blog focuses on documenting the most noteworthy cases involving the required separation between church and state, free speech, LGBTQ+ rights and religious discrimination. Despite required Constitutional separation, many fear that the Supreme Court’s current majority could erode these rights. Our blog focuses on describing matters in a way that objectively examines both sides and which can be easily understood by readers.