Full Court Press: Louisiana asks federal appeals court to protect Ten Commandments displays Entire Fifth Circuit urged to uphold passive religious symbols in public schools

WASHINGTON – The State of Louisiana asked the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit today to protect its ability to display the Ten Commandments in its public school classrooms. In Roake v. Brumley, Louisiana passed a law requiring public schools to display small posters including the Ten Commandments and acknowledging the Commandments’ influence on American law, history, and education. After the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the State, a federal district court blocked the law, and three judges on the Fifth Circuit recently left that ruling in place. Now the State—represented by Becket, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, and Louisiana Solicitor General Ben Aguiñaga—is asking the Fifth Circuit to hear the case “en banc,” meaning in front of all active judges on the court.

Religious symbols have been a fixture of American public life since before the Founding. Just after declaring Independence, the Continental Congress tasked Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams with designing a national seal. Though the Great Seal eventually adopted a different design, all three proposed overtly religious designs drawn from the Hebrew Bible. Over the centuries, many state and local governments have followed the Founders’ lead by including religious elements in their flags, seals, and buildings to commemorate history and culture and to acknowledge the beliefs of their citizens. Among the most enduring of these religious symbols is the Ten Commandments, which is even featured prominently on the walls of the U.S. Supreme Court. 

“The ACLU wants to treat something that would be seen as perfectly unremarkable by our Founders—an acknowledgment of religion in a public space—as a health hazard,” said Joseph Davis, senior counsel at Becket. “This view is as detached from reality as it is from our law. The court should make clear that Louisiana is free to acknowledge every aspect of our history and culture, including the Ten Commandments.”  

In 2024, Louisiana passed a law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. The displays must contain a context statement explaining the history of the Commandments in American public education, and schools have flexibility in designing them. For example, schools may choose to incorporate the Commandments alongside other historical documents, like the Declaration of Independence and the Mayflower Compact. And the displays Louisiana is considering in practice feature the Commandments in context, reflecting their role in American laws and history. However, before any actual displays ever appeared in any classroom, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against Louisiana claiming the displays will harm schoolchildren by forcing them to be in the presence of religious messages. In 2024, a federal district court put the law on hold, and last week the Fifth Circuit left that ruling in place. Now Louisiana is urging the full court to hear the case and allow it to freely display the Ten Commandments in its public school classrooms.

“Today, my office filed a petition seeking the full Fifth Circuit’s review in our litigation regarding Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law. The Fifth Circuit’s panel decision in this case directly rejected the Fifth Circuit’s own precedents and precedents from other circuits and the Supreme Court,” said Attorney General Liz Murrill. “This is exactly the sort of case that warrants full Court review, and we appreciate the Court’s careful consideration.”

The Fifth Circuit is expected to decide whether to hear the case in the coming weeks.