(The Center Square) – The full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in lawsuits brought against Louisiana and Texas after their respective legislatures passed bills requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry was the first governor to sign a bill into law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in public school classrooms. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was the second.
After the bills were signed into law, multiple groups sued in each state, arguing they are unconstitutional. So far, courts have agreed. District courts in Louisiana and Texas both ruled they are unconstitutional and blocked them from going into effect. Texas’ injunction only applies to specific school districts, The Center Square reported.
Both states appealed to the Fifth Circuit. A panel of three judges ruled Louisiana’s law was “plainly unconstitutional.” Louisiana requested the full court to hear the case. The full court agreed to hear both cases, which it did on Tuesday.
After several hours of debate before the court, Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill and Landry spoke to reporters, expressing optimism.
“I like our chances,” Murrill said. “I don’t think we’d be here if we didn’t have a significant number of judges who disagreed with the panel decision, both in our case and in Texas’ case.”
Attorneys engaged in “discussion about Supreme Court precedent and what the proper interpretation is of certain cases,” which she said would likely “continue beyond this court.” Regardless of how the Fifth Circuit rules, either side is expected to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, she said.
“We have the better side of that argument,” she added. “We believe that you can apply this law constitutionally. And we went to the trouble of creating numerous posters to illustrate that point.”
Landry said the United States was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and Americans should “embrace that tradition and heritage.”
He also pointed to the phrase, “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency, saying, “We spend more time with money in our pockets than we spend in school, and yet I don’t understand why we are here. Why can’t we just embrace the historical concepts of the Judeo-Christian principles that this nation was founded on?”
The justices discussed “other documents that invoke God, invoke religion, invoke our traditional principles, religious principles on which this country was founded,” he said. The Ten Commandments are a “foundational document for our legal and our historical traditions in creating our government structures.”
Landry also advised Louisiana parents to teach their children “a moral code. You either read the Ten Commandments or your child is going to learn the Criminal Code.”
The cases, Rev. Roake v. Brumley in Louisiana, and Rabbi Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District, in Texas, “raise fundamental questions about religious freedom and the separation of church and state guaranteed by the First Amendment,” the American Civil Liberties Union argues.
The ACLU is representing plaintiffs in both states, as well as Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as pro bono counsel. The ACLU of Louisiana and ACLU of Texas are representing plaintiffs in their respective states.
The plaintiffs include Protestant pastors, Islamic leaders and nonreligious parents who also argue “no federal court has upheld any display of the Ten Commandments by a public school,” The Center Square reported.
“The plaintiffs in both states are multifaith and nonreligious families who simply want their constitutional right to decide their children’s religious education respected by the government. They want their children’s public schools to remain welcoming and inclusive for their families and students of all backgrounds,” the ACLU said.
“I send my children to public school to learn math, English, science, art, and so much more – but not to be evangelized by the state into its chosen religion,” Louisiana Rev. Jeff Sims said. “These religious displays send a message to my children and other students that people of some religious denominations are superior to others. This is religious favoritism and it’s not only dangerous, but runs counter to my Presbyterian values of inclusion and equality.”
“No one faith should be canonized as more holy than others. Yet Texas legislators are imposing the Ten Commandments on public-school children,” Texas Rabbi Mara Nathan said. “Though they are a sacred text to me and many others, the Ten Commandments has no place on the walls of public-school classrooms. Children’s religious beliefs should be instilled by parents and faith communities, not politicians and public schools.”
