The lawsuit — filed on the families’ behalf by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom from Religion Foundation — argues that the law enacted last week violates the First Amendment.
Specifically, the complaint says that the language of the law “Approves and Prescribes One Particular Version of the Ten Commandments, to Which Many People Do Not Subscribe,” violating the Constitution’s prohibitions on establishing an official religion and prohibiting free exercise of religion.
The lawsuit has longstanding precedent on its side: In 1980, the US Supreme Court ruled that a Kentucky state law mandating the Ten Commandments in all classrooms was unconstitutional. But Christian culture warriors, emboldened by the recent arrival of a solidly conservative majority on the court, see an opportunity to have that ruling, Stone v. Graham, overturned.
Now, similar bills have been proposed recently in state houses in Texas, Utah and Oklahoma. None has yet passed, although Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick pledged days ago that he would make it happen. Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, is the first to sign such a law, doing so last week as part of a slate of legislation against abortion rights and transgender inclusion that he said reflected his values as a Catholic.
Jewish families have played leading roles in religious liberty lawsuits challenging recent legislation by conservative state legislatures. Rabbis in a number of states have sued to block restrictions on abortion, for example, arguing that they are based in Christianity and violate the separation of church and state.
The Ten Commandments, given by God to Moses at Mount Sinai in the biblical book of Exodus (and repeated with slight variations elsewhere in the Bible), are revered by both Jews and Christians. But like the abortion lawsuits, the Louisiana lawsuit argues that the text of the Ten Commandments mandated by the law is a Christian version and “does not match any version or translation found in the Jewish tradition.” READ MORE
