Louisiana AG Defends Constitutionality of Ten Commandments in Schools

The Louisiana law requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments is constitutional, state Attorney General Liz Murrill argues in a legal brief filed this week.

House Bill 71 made Louisiana the first state to require public universities and K-12 schools to display the Ten Commandments after Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, signed it into law on June 17.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the law, asserting that it violates both U.S. Supreme Court precedent and the First Amendment.

“Our brief illustrates just a few of the countless ways in which schools may constitutionally implement H.B. 71,” said Murrill, a Republican. “Because the ACLU cannot carry their burden to show that the Ten Commandments law is unconstitutional in all its applications, this lawsuit must be dismissed.”

“I am proud to defend the law, and I very much look forward to seeing the ACLU in court,” she said.

The brief, submitted Tuesday, lays out a number of applications of the Ten Commandments law, which it says are plainly constitutional.

Those include a poster citing the now-deceased Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s emphasis on foundational documents, including the Ten Commandments; a poster describing Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Ten Commandments of Non-Violence,” alongside Moses’ own Ten Commandments; and a poster featuring the late actor Charlton Heston in his most famous movie role as Moses.

Murrill filed the brief in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.