Plucking Another Stone from the Wall of Separation

Louisiana’s deliberate effort to overrule a crucial First Amendment case.

A stone sculpture of the Ten Commandments placed by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles in Grand Junction, Colorado. Michael Smith, Getty Images

Last month, to much fanfare and/or consternation, Louisiana enacted a new law requiring all public schools, from kindergarten to college, to post a copy of the Ten Commandments in every classroom. This law is facially unconstitutional under current Supreme Court precedent, which the state’s legislators and governor almost certainly know. Yet they were not deterred and passed the law anyway. Why?

To understand why Louisiana passed this law and what will likely happen to it, we’ll start first with what the law says. It requires the following version of the Ten Commandments to be displayed “on a poster or framed document that is at least eleven inches by fourteen inches” “in each classroom in each school:”

The Ten Commandments

I AM the Lord thy God.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.

Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.