A federal appeals court has allowed a Louisiana law mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in all public-school classrooms to take effect, concluding that a lawsuit challenging the law was premature.
The full Fifth Court Court of Appeals on Friday threw out a federal district court order enjoining the enforcement of House Bill 71 in the state’s public schools, saying that the parent-plaintiffs’ characterization of the law as unconstitutional is not “ripe” for judicial review.
HB 71 describes certain minimum requirements for the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, including the specific text from the King James Bible, text size and a “context statement,” but the law leaves other display details to the discretion of local school boards, according to the court’s opinion.
“Because the parents’ challenge turns on unresolved factual and contextual questions, equitable relief was premature, and we vacate the preliminary injunction,” the court’s majority said. “… Simply put, we cannot evaluate ‘how the text is used’ … because we do not yet know – and cannot yet know – how the text will be used.”
The court majority went on to explain that it could not conclude that every Ten Commandments display put up under the HB 71 guidelines would represent a violation of the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment.
“HB 71 confers sweeping discretion on local school boards, and the Establishment Clause demands close attention to context,” the court said. “That incongruity is dispositive: It forecloses judicial review at this stage and renders the plaintiffs’ claims nonjusticiable”
But the court stressed that nothing prevents legal challenges from being filed in the future that reflect the “factual record” once the new law goes into effect.
The groups representing the plaintiffs in the Rev. Roake v. Brumley lawsuit – the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Freedom From Religion Foundation and pro bono counsel Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP – said in a joint statement that they were disheartened by the appeals court ruling.
“(The) ruling is extremely disappointing and would unnecessarily force Louisiana’s public school families into a game of constitutional whack-a-mole in every school district,” the organizations said. “Longstanding 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.”
The parties said the legal battle was not over and that they would continue to stand with Louisiana families to protect their religious freedoms.
In a statement emailed to the Louisiana Record, Alanah Odoms, the ACLU of Louisiana’s executive director, said the Fifth Circuit departed from the U.S. Supreme Court’s prohibition against “religious indoctrination” as outlined in the 1980 case of Stone v. Graham.
“The Fifth Circuit did not merely sidestep binding precedent,” Odoms said. “It ran from it. This decision is wrong. It is cowardly. And it carries real consequences for our children.”
The ACLU says the court ruling will transform the public school classroom, which should be inclusive, into “a government-sanctioned house of worship.”
Louisiana’s attorney general, Liz Murrill, said the Fifth Circuit decision would allow schools to begin posting Ten Commandments displays immediately.
“Don’t kill or steal shouldn’t be controversial,” Murrill said in a statement. “My office has issued clear guidance to our public schools on how to comply with the law, and we have created multiple examples of posters demonstrating how it can be applied constitutionally. Louisiana public schools should follow the law.”
