ACLU Files Suit Over Louisiana’s Ten Commandments Mandate

BATON ROUGE, La. — A week after Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed legislation mandating the Ten Commandments be prominently displayed in public schools, the ACLU has made good on its vow to sue the state over the new policy.

As previously reported by The Well News, the new law requires a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments, spelled out in a “large, easily readable font” in all public classrooms from kindergarten to state-funded universities.

The framed posters will be paired with a four-paragraph “context statement” explaining how the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.” 

Under the law, state funds will not be used to implement the mandate, which is set to go into effect with the start of the 2025-2026 school year. Instead, the posters will be paid for through private donations.

The plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit include nine families with children in Louisiana public schools. 

Joshua Herlands, one of the plaintiffs, deemed the new law “un-American.”

“This law is unconstitutional, divisive, intolerant and, frankly, un-American,” he said during a telephone briefing for reporters on the litigation.

During the same call, Alanah Odoms, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, said the law “is contradictory toward our founding principles, and to the strident articulation of freedom within the First Amendment’s free exercise clause.” 

Heather Weaver, a senior staff attorney for the nonprofit, said the law is an attempt by government officials to erode the separation of church and state. She went on to describe the law as a “means to convert children to Christianity.”

The plaintiffs in the case are a diverse group, including two ministers, a few non-religious parents and a Jewish family.

In addition to the ACLU, they are being represented by counsel from the Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation. 

Reverend Jeff Sims, a minister in the Presbyterian Church, and a plaintiff in the case said Monday he believes the new law doesn’t just interfere with his and his childrens’ religious freedom, “it tramples on it.” 

The Well News reached out to Landry’s office for comment and this article will be updated if he responds. 

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