State Attorney General pushing back on Ten Commandments ruling

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - A federal judge in the middle district court ruled a law requiring posters of the Ten Commandments be posted in all classrooms is unconstitutional. The ruling comes with just under two months until public K-12 schools and colleges would have to put them in front of students by law.

Under the ruling, State Superintendent Dr. Cade Brumley is now required to notify all public elementary, secondary, charter, and post-secondary education institutions of the ruling, which the ACLU of Louisiana takes as a win.

"It's fundamental to our democracy that there's a separation between church and state so ultimately we see today's ruling as a success," said Jabarie Walker, Political Director for the ACLU of Louisiana.

However, State Attorney General Liz Murrill said the judge's ruling only applied to the five school districts named in the lawsuit challenging the law: East Rouge Parish, Livingston Parish, St. Tammany Parish, Orleans Parish, and Vernon Parish School Board.

"This ruling does not apply to the entire state of Louisiana," explained Murrill. "The judge had jurisdiction over five school boards and BESE and BESE is not legally in charge of all the school boards."

Others however support the judge's ruling. State Representative Mandie Landry believes the law violates students' religious freedoms.

"Religion in the classroom seems like it was decided a long time ago," said Landry. "It's definitely promoting religion period and promoting Christianity and not everyone, not every kid, subscribed to those religions."

Supporters of the law argue the commandments are not solely religious and have historical significance for students as well. The State plans to file an appeal with the Fifth Circuit Court on Wednesday.

"We intend to seek a stay immediately and do everything we can to ensure that this law is allowed to go into effect," said Murrill.

Opponents of the law hope the outcome will stay the same. Rep. Landry said she doesn't have as much faith in the Fifth Circuit Court but believes Tuesday's ruling was correct.

"We hope that if and when an appeal happens the appellate level will do the same," said Walker.

We've reached out to the ACLU for more reaction to the AG's claim that this ruling is limited to a few school districts. We have not yet heard back.