Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

July 2, 2024

The Ten Commandments in Louisiana Schools and the Future of the First Amendment

Jurisprudence has changed, but the Decalogue might still be a step too far.

Louisiana recently enacted a law requiring that the text of the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public-school classroom. Almost immediately afterwards, the ACLU filed a lawsuit complaining that the regulation violated the First Amendment. Once, the ACLU would have had a near-airtight case, but a 2022 Supreme Court ruling has changed the way the First Amendment is applied in such instances, and this lawsuit will test the new doctrine. Michael A. Helfand explains that there are two reasons the law might still fail to pass muster:

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