BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana will not take formal steps to implement a law requiring the Ten Commandments to be placed in every public school classroom in the state until at least November as a lawsuit winds its way through the courts, according to an agreement approved by a federal judge Friday.
The complaint was filed in June Parents of Louisiana public school students from a variety of faiths said the law violated the First Amendment, which prohibits government establishment of religion and guarantees religious freedom. Supporters of the law argue that the Ten Commandments belong in classrooms because they are historical and part of the foundation of American law.
The law requires the commandments to be posted by Jan. 1, a deadline that is not affected by Friday’s agreement. The agreement ensures that the defendants in the lawsuit — state education officials and several local school boards — will not post the commandments in classrooms until Nov. 15. They also will not establish rules governing the law’s implementation until then.
Lester Duhe, a spokesman for Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, said the defendants “agreed not to take any public compliance steps until Nov. 15” to allow time for briefs, arguments and a decision.
In 1980, the The United States Supreme Court has ruled The Supreme Court found that a similar Kentucky law violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that Congress may “make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The Supreme Court found that the law had no secular purpose but rather served a clearly religious purpose.
In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that such displays in two Kentucky courthouses violated the Constitution. At the same time, the Court upheld the validity of a plaque commemorating the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol in Austin.
