Louisiana urges full federal appeals court to protect Ten Commandments displays Entire Fifth Circuit to decide if state can display passive religious symbols in public schools

WASHINGTON – The State of Louisiana asked the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit late yesterday to protect its ability to display the Ten Commandments in its public school classrooms. In Roake v. Brumley, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against Louisiana after it passed a law requiring public schools to display small posters including the Ten Commandments that acknowledge the Commandments’ influence on American law and history. A federal district court blocked the law, and three judges on the Fifth Circuit left that ruling in place. But earlier this fall, the full Fifth Circuit agreed to rehear the case “en banc,” meaning in front of all active judges on the court. Louisiana is represented by Becket, Attorney General Liz Murrill, and Solicitor General Ben Aguiñaga.

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 seems to think that any trace of religion in public life should trigger a code red-level alarm,” said Joseph Davis, senior counsel at Becket. “To our Founders, that idea would have been laughable. America has a longstanding tradition of recognizing faith in the public square, and the court should allow Louisiana to maintain it by displaying the Ten Commandments in its public schools.”

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 For example, schools may choose to incorporate the Commandments alongside other historical documents, like the Declaration of Independence and the Mayflower Compact.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. But before any actual displays ever appeared in any classroom, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against Louisiana, claiming the displays would harm schoolchildren by forcing them to be in the presence of religious messages.  

Oral argument in the case will take place on January 20, 2026.

For more information or to arrange an interview with a Becket attorney, contact Ryan Colby at [email protected] or 202-349-7219.