LAFAYETTE, KATC - In a press conference Tuesday morning, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced that her office is filing a brief defending the constitutionality of H.B. 71, Louisiana’s law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools.
Murrill states that the lawsuit was filed “prematurely,” and “based on hypothetical facts,” because the petitioners have not seen the Ten Commandments displays.
To read the Motion, which was filed electronically late Monday, scroll down.
Murrill also citing the Ten Commandments provides historic value for students. "These are teachable moments that we can illustrate through these posters, and they all show a constitutional way to apply the law," Murrill said.
In the news briefing, Murrill displayed various mockups of possible illustrations with the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson - comparing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’.s non-violence movement to Moses’ Ten Commandment teachings.
The law has sparked outrage nationwide. Civil liberties groups filed a lawsuit on June 24th challenging Louisiana’s new law.
Opponents argue that the law is a violation of the first amendment. In a joint statement sent to KATC on the behalf of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation, they said,
“This law is a transparent attempt to pressure public-school students to convert to the state’s preferred brand of Christianity. Our lawsuit is necessary to protect the religious freedom of all Louisiana public schoolchildren and their families.
Selecting one denomination’s version of the Ten Commandments as Louisiana’s preferred version and then forcing that document on every public school student, regardless of their personal beliefs, is unconstitutional.
The plaintiffs’ injury in this case is far from hypothetical. Louisiana requires posting the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom and the state has mandated specific language to be the central focus of every display. That language violates each and every parent’s right to dictate the religious or nonreligious upbringing of their children.
In his statement, Landry said he thinks that the Ten Commandments is a “fine way to live.” But it is not for Landry or the State of Louisiana to dictate how its citizens choose to live or what god, if any, they choose to worship. America’s Founders ensured that, for matters of conscience, we would not be a nation of “majority rules.” The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the freedom of religion and belief for every individual, regardless of what religious doctrine the Louisiana legislature seeks to force on children and families.”
Landry, who supports Murrill and was at the conference, telling families who opposed the new poster they can “tell the child not to look at them,” he said.
The minimum required size of an H.B. 71 poster display containing the Ten Commandments is 11 x 14 inches.
A federal judge ruled classrooms could not display the posters until at least November 15th. The law sets out a deadline to display the posters by January 2025.
Here's the AG's Motion; the Orleans Parish School Board filed their own Motion.
