Louisiana can display Ten Commandments in classrooms, appeals court rules

By Michael Gryboski, Editor Monday, February 23, 2026

A federal appeals court will allow Louisiana to enforce a state law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments.

In a per curiam ruling released last Friday in Roake v. Brumley, the 5th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals vacated an earlier block on the Ten Commandments law being enforced.

The per curiam opinion states that “the parents’ challenge turns on unresolved factual and contextual questions” and thus the injunction against the state law was “premature.”

“There can be no doubt that the Ten Commandments bear immense religious significance,” stated the appeals court. “But they also ‘have historical significance as one of the foundations of our legal system.’ … That dual character forecloses any categorical rule against their display on public property.”

The appeals court went on to note that since the state law leaves Ten Commandments displays “entirely to the discretion of local school boards,” this means that there are “numerous essential questions unanswered.”

“We do not know, for example, how prominently the displays will appear, what other materials might accompany them, or how — if at all — teachers will reference them during instruction,” noted the per curiam opinion.

“More fundamentally, we do not even know the full content of the displays themselves. Although the statute requires inclusion of the Commandments and a context statement, it expressly permits additional content — such as ‘the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance’ — to appear alongside them.”

Circuit Judge Irma Ramirez, a Biden appointee, authored a dissenting opinion, arguing that “no additional factual development” was necessary, given that the state law is chiefly focused on the Ten Commandments.

“Here, [House Bill 71] thoroughly outlines the mandatory religious displays,” wrote Ramirez. “Because H.B. 71 provides sufficient information about the mandatory classroom religious displays, and requires no other materials to be displayed, ‘no additional factual development’ is required to determine the statute’s facial invalidity.”

“I would hold that Plaintiffs have standing to assert their Establishment Clause claims, that they have plausibly alleged those claims, that they are likely to succeed on the merits of those claims, and that the remaining preliminary injunction factors are satisfied.”

Joseph Davis, senior counsel at the religious liberty law firm Becket, who is helping to represent Louisiana, celebrated the per curiam opinion in a statement.

“If the ACLU had its way, every trace of religion would be scrubbed from the fabric of our public life,” said Davis. “We’re glad the Fifth Circuit has allowed Louisiana to display the Ten Commandments in its public school classrooms.”

The progressive advocacy groups representing the parents suing the law include the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

In a joint statement, the groups called the per curiam ruling “extremely disappointing” and claimed that it “would unnecessarily force Louisiana’s public school families into a game of constitutional whack-a-mole in every school district.”

“Longstanding judicial precedent makes clear that our clients need not submit to the very harms they are seeking to prevent before taking legal action to protect their rights,” they added. “But this fight isn’t over. We will continue fighting for the religious freedom of Louisiana’s families.”

In 2024, Louisiana passed House Bill 71, which requires public school classrooms to display a copy of the Ten Commandments that measures at least 11 inches by 14 inches.

Signed by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, the new law also permitted schools to display other historical documents, like the Mayflower Compact and the Declaration of Independence.

Shortly after HB 71 was signed, progressive legal groups sued Louisiana on behalf of a multifaith group of parents with minor children enrolled in state public schools.

In June of last year, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit issued a decision upholding a lower court injunction against HB 71, with Ramirez writing in the panel opinion that the law “inflicts significant practical harm on Plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights.”

Last October, the Fifth Circuit issued a brief per curiam opinion vacating the earlier ruling against the law and agreeing to have the full court hear the case.