A group of nine families in Louisiana sued the state’s education department and their local school boards in federal court on Monday, saying that a new law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classes is unconstitutional.
The lawsuit came out less than a week after Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana signed a bill that made his state the first in the country to require all public schools to put up the Ten Commandments in classrooms. This was the first time that this had been required since the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional more than 40 years ago.
The Jewish, Christian, Unitarian Universalist, and nonreligious families said in court papers sent to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana that the new law “substantially interferes with and burdens” their right under the First Amendment to raise their children in any religion they choose.
It also says that the new law “forces students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state’s preferred religious scripture.”
Students who don’t follow the Ten Commandments are told they don’t fit in their school community and shouldn’t talk about their faith in ways that aren’t in line with the state’s religious preferences. This is seen as harmful and can cause religious conflict.
Rev. Darcy Roake, a Unitarian Universalist minister, and Rev. Jeff Simms, a Presbyterian minister, are two of the claimants who are in the clergy.
“The government is getting into very personal religious matters by favoring one version of the Ten Commandments and making it mandatory for it to be posted in public schools,” Simms said at a news conference. “This is religious favoritism that runs counter to my religion and faith.”
Roake, whose husband is Jewish, told reporters that she and her husband are raising their children in both religions and have put them in public schools in New Orleans so that they can get “a secular education that does not promote any particular religion.”
And Joshua Herlands was shocked because he was “an American and a Jew” that “state lawmakers are forcing public schools to post a specific version of the Ten Commandments in every classroom.”
“These displays distort the Jewish significance of the Ten Commandments and send the troubling message to students that one set of religious laws is favored over all others,” said Herlands. “Politicians have no business foisting their religious beliefs on my kids.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation all support the parents. They are being helped by the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett for free.
The case has already been given to a federal judge in Baton Rouge, according to attorney Jonathan Youngwood. They are now looking for a hearing this summer “so this law can never be put into effect.”
At this time, NBC News has not heard back from the office of the governor of Louisiana.
Landry, a conservative Republican, said at the ceremony on Wednesday where the bill was signed that the state would fight any court challenges.
Landry said, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you have to start with Moses, who made the first laws.”
Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee, also supports Landry. On Friday, he wrote on his social media account that the rest of the country should follow Louisiana’s lead and allow the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools.
Landry is also going to sign into law soon a bill that says teachers from kindergarten through 12th grade can’t talk about sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s based on a rule in Florida that some people have called a “Don’t Say Gay” law.
State Rep. Dodie Horton, a Republican from mostly rural Haughton, Louisiana, pushed for both of the bills. NBC News has asked Horton to say something about the case.
Horton hasn’t said sorry for trying to bring faith, especially Christianity, into public schools.
“I don’t care about an atheist.” “I don’t care about a Muslim,” Horton, a Southern Baptist, said in April during a House discussion. It worries me that our kids will look into what God’s law says.
The Democratic strategist James Carville has strong family ties to Cajun country. In a recent interview with NBC, Carville called Horton a “foot soldier for Christian nationalists.”
Carville said, “This is a group of people who think the Constitution was written by and for Christians and that the First Amendment only protects Christians.”
Carville said he thinks this isn’t just about the Ten Commandments.
“This is the first shot in what is likely to be a long, drawn-out war that could reach the Supreme Court.”
In 1980, the Supreme Court said that putting up the Ten Commandments in schools was against the Constitution. The current court has six conservative judges and three liberal judges.
Carville said, “They think they have a better chance with this court.”
People who work for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, like Rachel Laser, agreed.
People called Christian Nationalists want to take over public schools across the country, not just in Louisiana, and make everyone follow their views, Laser said in a statement after the lawsuit was filed.
Professor William Snowden of the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law said that Landry’s comment last week that he expects to be sued shows that he is “aware of the legal complications of such a bill.”
But Snowden said he doesn’t think the governor can make the case that this law is good for all Louisiana people, no matter what religion they are.
Snowden said, “This is a clever way to start a debate about whether or not the Ten Commandments or Christian beliefs are good values to hold. But the real conversation is not about those values; it’s more about how the government supports and promotes religious doctrine.”
The professor also said that it was “breaking down a long-held separation between church and state.”
