On June 20, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that blocked Louisiana from enforcing a law mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. The court found the statute facially unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, upholding a preliminary injunction that halts its implementation.
The legal dispute centers around House Bill 71 (H.B. 71), enacted in June 2024, which requires public schools to post a specific Protestant version of the Ten Commandments in a prominent format by January 1, 2025. A diverse group of Louisiana parents, including those of Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, and non-religious backgrounds, challenged the law, arguing it forced their children to engage with a religious message contrary to their beliefs.
The Fifth Circuit rejected the state’s defenses, including arguments about legislative purpose and historical context. It concluded the displays violated core constitutional protections by mandating a religious message in a compulsory education setting. The court cited the 1980 Supreme Court decision Stone v. Graham, which struck down a nearly identical Kentucky law. Although the state cited Van Orden v. Perry (2005) as precedent for historical acknowledgment of the Ten Commandments, the court distinguished that case as involving a passive display on capitol grounds, not in classrooms.
The panel also dismissed Louisiana’s procedural arguments, affirming the plaintiffs had standing and that the case was ripe. It ruled that the law’s minimum requirements guaranteed direct exposure to religious texts in ways that triggered both Establishment Clause concerns and parental rights over religious upbringing. The court further held that the statute’s historical justification was a pretext, as its implementation lacked educational integration and displayed sectarian content without context or curriculum.
With this ruling, the injunction remains in place, blocking enforcement of H.B. 71. If not overturned, the decision prevents Louisiana from requiring these displays in public school classrooms.
Orleans Parish, a separate defendant in the broader litigation, remains on hold pending the outcome of this appeal. Louisiana may seek an en banc rehearing or petition the Supreme Court for certiorari.
Analysis
The Fifth Circuit’s decision in the Louisiana Ten Commandments case arrives as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to weigh another case touching on the boundaries between public education and religious values: Mahmoud v. Taylor. In Mahmoud, parents challenge a public charter school’s mandatory “moral foundations” curriculum, alleging it includes ideological content that contradicts their religious beliefs. While Mahmoud centers more on curricular instruction than posted materials, both cases test how far the state can go in shaping student experiences in ways that conflict with parental authority over religious upbringing.
The Louisiana case focuses on a “passive display”—the requirement to hang a religious text in classrooms—but the Fifth Circuit treated it as more than symbolic. The court emphasized that in a school context, especially with young, impressionable students, even a static poster can carry coercive weight. Unlike in Van Orden v. Perry, where a Ten Commandments monument stood quietly among other displays on Texas Capitol grounds, this law mandated daily, inescapable exposure to a religious message. That turns a passive display into something much closer to an active influence.
That distinction—between passive endorsement and active instruction—is crucial in both cases. In Mahmoud, the content is part of the classroom dialogue; in Louisiana, it’s the environment itself that communicates a religious viewpoint. But the underlying legal question is similar: when does state action in public education infringe on a parent’s right to control the religious formation of their children?
Both cases underscore the courts’ increasing focus on parental rights and the degree to which public education can or should promote particular moral or religious messages. While Mahmoud could clarify how courts treat curriculum challenges, the Louisiana ruling affirms that even seemingly neutral displays must be evaluated in light of their daily, unavoidable presence in public schools. Together, they are part of a broader legal reckoning over the line between education and indoctrination.