by Jorge Gomez • 3 minutes
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill gave a shout out to First Liberty in a speech and on social media this week. She posted about our efforts to defend Ten Commandments displays on public property.
Louisiana recently became the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public schools and colleges that receive public funding. In June, Gov. Jeff Landry signed a bill stating that “each public school governing authority shall display the Ten Commandments in each classroom in each school under its jurisdiction.” First Liberty played a role in helping this become law in Louisiana.
“Nonprofit organizations are often some of the most powerful legal forces involved in cutting-edge legislation and litigation across the country, including high-profile First Amendment issues,” read AG Murrill’s post.
Our Ten Commandments brief explains that an H.B. 71 poster describing legal nonprofit organizations like @ACLU, @ACLUofLouisiana, and @1stLiberty – and their fights over the Ten Commandments – is plainly constitutional. #lalege pic.twitter.com/1MK3qi92G2
— Attorney General Liz Murrill (@AGLizMurrill) August 5, 2024
AG Murrill’s office filed its opening brief in defense of the state law this week.
“We are grateful for the strong leadership of Attorney General Murrill in defending this important law,” First Liberty President, CEO and Chief Counsel Kelly Shackelford said.
“Placing this historic document on schoolhouse walls is a great way to remind students of the foundations of American and Louisiana law and it fits perfectly in the history and tradition of America,” Shackelford added. “First Liberty will support General Murrill in any way we can.”
“The Pelican State has rightly recognized the history and tradition of the Ten Commandments,” said Matt Krause, an independent legal and policy advisor to First Liberty. “Putting this historic document on schoolhouse walls is a great way to remind students of the foundations of American and Louisiana law. First Liberty was grateful to play a part in helping this bill reach the Governor’s desk. We applaud Louisiana for being the first, but by no means the last, state to take this bold step for religious liberty.”
Watch Krause discuss the bill’s signing on First Liberty Live:
The Ten Commandments are a foundation of Louisiana’s and many other states’ legal systems. They were they influential in the founding of our country and our laws.
In her post, AG Murrill detailed the history of the Ten Commandments in American public schools, saying they were a prominent part of education for almost three centuries:
Around the year 1688, The New England Primer became the first published American textbook and was the equivalent of a first grade reader. The New England Primer was used in public schools throughout the United States for more than 150 years to teach Americans to read and contained more than 40 questions about the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments were also included in public school textbooks published by educator William McGuffey, a noted university president and professor. A version of his famous McGuffey Readers was written in the early 1800s and became one of the most popular textbooks in the history of American education, selling more than 100-million copies. Copies of the McGuffey Readers are still available today.
Opponents argue that Louisiana’s law is unconstitutional because displaying the Ten Commandments is an “establishment of religion.” But that’s simply not the case.
The law is consistent with Supreme Court precedent, which states that historical displays with religious references and imagery on government property are constitutional.
In First Liberty’s landmark Supreme Court victory, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the Court overturned decades of bad precedent that caused many historic religious symbols to be scrubbed from the public square. Moving forward, the Court set a precedent protecting religious displays on government property, making it clear that “the Establishment Clause must be interpreted by ‘reference to historical practices and understandings.’”
Not only is Louisiana’s law constitutional, it’s also a huge win for religious liberty.
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