A federal appeals court has ruled that a Louisiana law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms only applies to the five school districts involved in a lawsuit.
The ruling came after a federal judge blocked the law from taking effect on January 1, saying the state was unlikely to win the case.
Attorney General Liz Murrill, who is defending the law, filed an appeal, arguing the ruling should only apply to the districts named in the lawsuit.
In a 2-1 decision, the 5th Circuit Court sided with Murrill, agreeing that the law should apply to the remaining 68 school districts. The law, passed by the state’s legislature and supported by Gov.
Jeff Landry, mandates that Ten Commandments displays be posted in every classroom in schools that receive state funding. Schools can accept donations for the posters, but are not required to purchase them.
The five districts named as defendants in the case are East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Orleans, St. Tammany, and Vernon. The law’s opponents, including the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, dismissed the ruling as a minor procedural issue.