Louisiana law that requires Ten Commandments to be displayed in public classrooms deemed unconstitutional A federal judge has struck down a Louisiana law that required every public school and university classroom to display the Ten Commandments , drawing legal challenges from civil rights groups anticipating a Supreme Court battle with the state’s Republican governor. The law violates the First Amendment ’s provisions against the government from establishing or favoring one religion over another, and from interfering with a right to practice a religion without government interference, according to the ruling . There is a “real and substantial likelihood of coercion” if Louisiana students are forced to be a “captive audience” for “a specific version of the Ten Commandments, one posted in every single classroom,” District Judge John Wheadon deGravelles wrote on Tuesday. Louisiana officials are blocked from enforcing the law under a temporary injunction that the state will likely try to appeal. The law signed by Governor Jeff Landry earlier this year — the first of its kind in the US — appears to be designed to invite a federal court battle that will work its way to the Supreme Court. Conservative Christian legal groups have been angling for […]

By : Markus McDowell