{"id":19826,"date":"2026-02-25T10:41:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T10:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=19826"},"modified":"2026-02-25T10:41:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T10:41:46","slug":"appeals-court-allows-la-to-mandate-ten-commandments-displays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=19826","title":{"rendered":"Appeals Court Allows LA to Mandate Ten Commandments Displays"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Reading Time:<\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A federal appeals court will allow Louisiana to enforce a state law requiring public schools to\u00a0display the Ten Commandments.\n<\/p>\n

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In a\u00a0per curiam ruling\u00a0released last Friday in\u00a0Roake v. Brumley<\/em>, the 5th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals vacated an earlier block on the Ten Commandments law being enforced.\n<\/p>\n

The per curiam opinion states that \u201cthe parents\u2019 challenge turns on unresolved factual and contextual questions\u201d and thus the injunction against the state law was \u201cpremature.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere can be no doubt that the Ten Commandments bear immense religious significance,\u201d stated the appeals court. \u201cBut they also \u2018have historical significance as one of the foundations of our legal system.\u2019 \u2026 That dual character forecloses any categorical rule against their display on public property.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The appeals court went on to note that since the state law leaves Ten Commandments displays \u201centirely to the discretion of local school boards,\u201d this means that there are \u201cnumerous essential questions unanswered.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not know, for example, how prominently the displays will appear, what other materials might accompany them, or how \u2014 if at all \u2014 teachers will reference them during instruction,\u201d noted the per curiam opinion.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cMore fundamentally, we do not even know the full content of the displays themselves. Although the statute requires inclusion of the Commandments and a context statement, it expressly permits additional content \u2014 such as \u2018the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance\u2019 \u2014 to appear alongside them.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Circuit Judge Irma Ramirez, a Biden appointee, authored a dissenting opinion, arguing that \u201cno additional factual development\u201d was necessary, given that the state law is chiefly focused on the Ten Commandments.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHere, [House Bill 71] thoroughly outlines the mandatory religious displays,\u201d wrote Ramirez. \u201cBecause H.B. 71 provides sufficient information about the mandatory classroom religious displays, and requires no other materials to be displayed, \u2018no additional factual development\u2019 is required to determine the statute\u2019s facial invalidity.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI would hold that Plaintiffs have standing to assert their Establishment Clause claims, that they have plausibly alleged those claims, that they are likely to succeed on the merits of those claims, and that the remaining preliminary injunction factors are satisfied.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Joseph Davis, senior counsel at the religious liberty law firm Becket, who is helping to represent Louisiana, celebrated the per curiam opinion in a\u00a0statement.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the ACLU had its way, every trace of religion would be scrubbed from the fabric of our public life,\u201d said Davis. \u201cWe\u2019re glad the Fifth Circuit has allowed Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments in its public school classrooms.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The progressive advocacy groups representing the parents suing the law include the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.\n<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0joint statement, the groups called the per curiam ruling \u201cextremely disappointing\u201d and claimed that it \u201cwould unnecessarily force Louisiana\u2019s public school families into a game of constitutional whack-a-mole in every school district.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cLongstanding judicial precedent makes clear that our clients need not submit to the very harms they are seeking to prevent before taking legal action to protect their rights,\u201d they added. \u201cBut this fight isn\u2019t over. We will continue fighting for the religious freedom of Louisiana\u2019s families.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

In 2024, Louisiana passed House Bill 71, which requires public school classrooms to display a copy of the Ten Commandments that measures at least 11 inches by 14 inches.\n<\/p>\n

Signed by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, the new law also permitted schools to display other historical documents, like the Mayflower Compact and the Declaration of Independence.\n<\/p>\n

Shortly after\u00a0HB 71\u00a0was signed, progressive legal groups\u00a0sued\u00a0Louisiana on behalf of a multifaith group of parents with minor children enrolled in state public schools.\n<\/p>\n

In June of last year, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit issued a\u00a0decision\u00a0upholding a lower court injunction against\u00a0HB 71, with Ramirez writing in the panel opinion that the law \u201cinflicts significant practical harm on Plaintiffs\u2019 First Amendment rights.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Last October, the Fifth Circuit issued a brief\u00a0per curiam opinion\u00a0vacating the earlier ruling against the law and agreeing to have the full court hear the case.\n<\/p>\n

What did you think of this ruling? Share your thoughts, prayers, and praises below.<\/h4>\n

This article was originally published at The Christian Post. Photo Credit: Chalirmpoj Pimpisarn\/Getty Images via Canva Teams.<\/em>
\n \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: 3 minutes A federal appeals court will allow Louisiana to enforce a state law requiring public schools to\u00a0display the Ten Commandments. This content is supported by your donations.Give today. \u00a0 In a\u00a0per curiam ruling\u00a0released last Friday in\u00a0Roake v. Brumley, the 5th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals vacated an earlier block on the Ten<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[261,2855,316,413,839,2854],"class_list":{"0":"post-19826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-prayer","8":"tag-appeals","9":"tag-commandments","10":"tag-court","11":"tag-displays","12":"tag-mandate","13":"tag-ten"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}