US civil liberties groups have sued Louisiana for what they called its “blatantly unconstitutional” new law requiring all state-funded schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) joined with its Louisiana affiliate and two other bodies – Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation – for the suit against the law, signed on Wednesday by the state’s rightwing Republican governor, Jeff Landry.
Landry, who succeeded the former Democratic governor John Bel Edwards in January, provocatively declared after signing the statute: “I can’t wait to be sued.”
The four groups immediately took him up on his challenge by announcing they were doing precisely that.
“We’re suing Louisiana for requiring all public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom,” the ACLU posted on X (formerly Twitter). “Public schools are not Sunday schools.”