A full federal appeals court said late Monday that it will review the constitutionality of Louisiana’s law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools.
The decision raises the stakes for the Louisiana law, which was originally set to take effect on Jan. 1 of this year but had been blocked by a district judge and a three-judge appellate panel. It also keeps the issue from reaching the U.S. Supreme Court for now, where Ten Commandments supporters hope the court’s conservative majority will be receptive to their arguments.
In June, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, in New Orleans, upheld an injunction blocking the law, ruling that the statute was likely unconstitutional under Stone v. Graham, a 1980 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a similar Kentucky law.
Louisiana asked the full 5th Circuit to rehear the case en banc, or by all the judges on the court, but the full court took several months to respond.
Meanwhile, in August, a federal district judge blocked a Texas law that also requires Ten Commandments displays in schools. Texas has asked the full 5th Circuit to hear its appeal of that ruling in conjunction with any review of the Louisiana case.
(An Arkansas Ten Commandments law has also been blocked, but that state is not part of the 5th Circuit.)
The full 5th Circuit, in a brief order on Oct. 6, vacated the panel’s earlier decision in the Louisiana case and ordered the parties to file new briefs by Nov. 5 for the state and Dec. 5 for the challengers, a group of multi-faith or non-religious parents and their children.
The 5th Circuit has not acted on the Texas request, and that appeal continues to move forward before a three-judge panel.
Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill, a Republican who is defending the law, said on X, “I’m glad to see the Fifth Circuit is taking this en banc. Looking forward to those arguments in court.”
The groups behind the challenge, which include Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, issued a statement that said the three-judge panel’s June ruling “was well reasoned and correctly followed binding Supreme Court precedent. We believe there is no reason to revisit it.”
Still, the groups said they are looking forward to presenting their case to the full 5th Circuit. They noted that a federal district court injunction blocking the Louisiana law from taking effect remains in place.
