A federal appeals court in New Orleans has rejected the state’s request to overturn a lower court ruling that blocked and declared unconstitutional a Louisiana law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.
However, since the appeals court previously limited the block to just five school districts involved in ongoing litigation, state officials remain free to enforce the law in the remaining 67 districts, pending a final decision in the case.
The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order on Nov. 20 denying a request to temporarily stay an earlier order by U.S. District Judge John deGravelles in Baton Rouge that declared Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law, or House Bill 71, as unconstitutional. DeGravelles found that the plaintiffs had a substantial likelihood of success on the merits and ordered state education officials to inform all 72 school districts that the law was invalidated….