A majority of the judges of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals have vacated a three-judge panel’s opinion that invalidated a Louisiana law mandating the Ten Commandments be posted in all public-school classrooms.
In an Oct. 6 decision, the federal appeals court agreed to rehear oral arguments in the case of Rev. Roake v. Brumley at a future date. In June, a Fifth Circuit panel issued an opinion on a challenge by nine Louisiana families to House Bill 71, concluding that the 2024 Ten Commandments law violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
The plaintiffs in the case, who come from different religious faiths, had argued that the displays would cause irrevocable damage to their rights of free expression and that HB 71 required a version of the Ten Commandments from a Protestant tradition.
State Attorney General Liz Murrill expressed satisfaction that the case would be reheard and reviewed by the full contingent of Fifth Circuit judges.
“Glad to see the Fifth Circuit is taking this en banc,” Murrill said in a prepared statement. “Looking forward to those arguments in court.”
The ACLU of Louisiana, which is representing plaintiffs in the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the groups representing the plaintiff families did provide a joint statement indicating that the Fifth Circuit panel’s ruling in June was well-reasoned and correctly followed U.S. Supreme Court precedents.
“We believe there is no reason to revisit it,” the statement says. “Nevertheless, we look forward to presenting our clients’ case to the entire court of appeals, and we remain confident that the constitutional values and principles at the heart of the First Amendment, which guarantee religious freedom for all students and families, will prevail in the end.”
The groups, including the Freedom From Religion Foundation and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, also emphasized that a preliminary injunction issued by a federal district court in the case was not affected by the latest Fifth Circuit decision. The injunction prevents enforcement of HB 71 in the state’s public schools.
State officials had argued HB 71 was constitutional because it allows for the Ten Commandments to be displayed in context with key documents from American history, such as the Mayflower Compact and Declaration of Independence.
The law, which was supposed to take effect on Jan. 1, required classroom displays or posters of the Ten Commandments that are 11 by 14 inches at a minimum. In addition, the Commandments were mandated to be printed in a “large, easily readable font.”
In its decision published on June 20, the three-judge Fifth Circuit panel held that HB 71 was “plainly unconstitutional” based on a 1980 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Stone v. Graham. That ruling concluded a similar law enacted in Kentucky failed to properly integrate the Ten Commandments into the state’s academic curriculum.
Members of Louisiana school boards, who are defendants in the case, petitioned for the full circuit court to review the previous opinion, arguing that the three-judge panel relied on a Supreme Court precedent that is no longer binding.
They also argued the panel’s June 20 ruling misinterpreted a 2022 Supreme Court decision dealing with religious activities on public school campuses.
