Louisiana Law Over Ten Commandments in Schools Faces ACLU Suit

Louisiana’s new statute requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public classroom violates the Constitution’s right to religious liberty, a group of families represented by the American Civil Liberties Union said in a lawsuit Monday.

“Permanently posting the Ten Commandments in every Louisiana public-school classroom—rendering them unavoidable—unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture,” the complaint says. The Louisiana statute—H.B. 71—also “substantially interferes with and burdens the right of parents to direct their children’s religious education and upbringing,” the complaint argues.

Nine families from different religious backgrounds with children in ...