Dive Brief:
- Four civil rights organizations, including the ACLU, on Monday warned Louisiana superintendents that if they post the Ten Commandments in classrooms, they could face “potential legal action by students and families” for violating the First Amendment.
- The organizations wrote the superintendents in what their letter called a response to “misleading guidance” issued by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill on Friday. Murrill advised district leaders to implement the new state law requiring schools to post the religious principles.
- The attorney general's guidance comes as a federal district court judge in November temporarily paused the law, H.B. 71, in response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and other civil liberties groups. Should a school follow Murrill’s guidance and be sued for implementing the law, the attorney general said her office would represent the school and defend state officials in court.
Dive Insight:
The controversial Louisiana law requires all public K-12 schools and higher education institutions to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, effective Jan. 1. However, whether schools should begin to follow the law remained unclear amid the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana's Nov. 12 order.
In Monday's letter to superintendents, the ACLU Foundation, ACLU of Louisiana, Freedom From Religion Foundation, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State cited a Jan. 2 radio interview where Murrill suggests schools will not face repercussions from the state if they choose not to enforce H.B. 71 while the litigation is pending.
“Quite frankly … there’s not any direct consequences to the school superintendent if he doesn’t comply,” Murrill told News Radio 710 KEEL.
Murrill said the only districts that legally cannot enforce H.B. 71 are the five whose school boards are defendants in Rev. Roake v. Brumley.
In her Jan. 3 guidance, Murrill shared four Ten Commandments posters other schools should choose from to display in classrooms.
The civil rights groups’ letter said three of those posters “are nearly identical to sample posters already included and rejected in the Roake litigation, and the fourth is similar in nature to other sample posters likewise rejected in Roake.”
In the November order that paused the law’s implementation, the federal judge denied the state's attempt to dismiss the case.
Judge John deGravelles said the plaintiffs “have easily established a likelihood of success” in their First Amendment case. He further said Murrill’s arguments in defense of the state board of education, education department and superintendent “ring hollow.”
Oral arguments for Rev. Roake v. Brumley are scheduled for Jan. 23 in the 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals.
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