One Nation, Under Whose God? The Constitutional Battle Over the Ten Commandments in Louisiana Classrooms

On June 19, 2024, the State of Louisiana passed House Bill 71 (H.B. 71), a law requiring every public-school classroom to display a copy of a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments in large, easily readable font. Immediately following the passage of the law, Louisiana residents of diverse faith backgrounds challenged H.B. 71 on First Amendment grounds in the case Roake v. Brumley. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana struck down the law and granted a preliminary injunction, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed on appeal. After a rehearing of the case at the Fifth Circuit en banc, the Circuit Court vacated the District Court’s preliminary injunction on the basis that the lawsuit was brought prematurely. Recent changes in First Amendment doctrine have complicated the fate of the law, and what would have been an obvious violation of the First Amendment just a few years ago is now more difficult to discern considering recent Supreme Court precedent. The fate of H.B. 71 will not only indicate the future of religion in schools and in public life—it may signal the reemergence of Protestantism as an American institution in an increasingly religiously diverse country.