FRANKFORT, KY (Dec. 18, 2024) – Attorney General Russell Coleman announced today that Kentucky is leading a multistate coalition in support of Louisiana’s law related to Ten Commandments displays in public school classrooms. General Coleman was joined by 17 other states in a filing before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Earlier this year, Louisiana's legislature passed a bill requiring all public K-12 schools and state-funded universities to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. The bill was signed into law by Governor Jeff Landry in June. In November, a federal district court judge blocked the law from taking effect.
Throughout the history of the United States, the Ten Commandments have held historical significance as one of the foundations of our legal system. The early legal code is even depicted in the U.S. Supreme Court and other prominent buildings in the Nation’s capital. Louisiana’s law acknowledges this history and allows a display that compares the Ten Commandments to other documents formative to contemporary American law, like Blackstone’s Commentaries and the Supreme Court’s Marbury v. Madison.
Louisiana’s law also requires a three-paragraph “context statement” to be part of every display, which provides examples of the Ten Commandments being “a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries.”
“From our founding documents to the establishment of the rule of law in the United States, the Ten Commandments’ influence on American history is undeniable,” said Attorney General Coleman. “I am proud to support Attorney General Liz Murrill and Louisiana in the effort to preserve our shared history and educate future generations.”
“The [Supreme] Court [previously] pointed out the obvious: Acknowledgements on public property of the role played by the Ten Commandments in our Nation’s heritage are common throughout America. In fact, the Court noted that the Ten Commandments are displayed several places in its own building… The Supreme Court’s building is no exception when compared to other government buildings in our Nation’s capital. The Supreme Court later affirmed that [in previous cases] no Member of the Court thought that these depictions of the Ten Commandments are unconstitutional,” read the brief.
General Coleman was joined by the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
