BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — The 2020 Teacher of the Year from Louisiana has initiated legal action against the state in response to a recent law mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom by January 1.
This marks the second legal challenge against the legislation, which was made official in June. The initial case was filed shortly after the law’s passage in Baton Rouge, and the presiding judge has expressed intentions to reach a decision on a request to halt the law by November 15.
The new lawsuit, however, has attracted comparatively less attention. Christopher Dier, a history instructor at Ben Franklin High School in New Orleans, filed the suit on September 23. Dier emphasized in an earlier interview that he would not comply with the requirement to display the Ten Commandments in his classroom.
U.S. District Judge Greg Guidry is set to confer with attorneys involved in Dier’s case via telephone to establish a timeline and potentially arrange a trial date. Among the defendants are Republican Governor Jeff Landry, who endorsed the legislation, Attorney General Liz Murrill, Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley, and various members of the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Dier’s lawsuit asserts that the law, identified as HB71, aims to impose a religious message on children and effectively “conscripts” teachers into disseminating it, thus infringing upon the First Amendment rights that protect citizens from government endorsement of religion. Dier’s case mirrors critiques from others who argue that the version of the Ten Commandments specified in the law aligns predominantly with Protestant beliefs, potentially alienating non-Christian students.
“I don’t believe in doing something that is unconstitutional and harmful to students,” Dier stated in a June interview.
In defense of HB71, state officials maintain that the legislation has historical relevance, asserting that the Ten Commandments played a role in shaping U.S. legal principles. They have submitted a motion seeking the dismissal of Dier’s lawsuit on the grounds that he has not experienced any actual harm that would justify legal action.
The motion argues, “He challenges only some unspecified future H.B. 71 display that he presumes may violate his rights at some unspecified future time. But he does not know — and Defendants do not know — how his (or any) school will select its H.B. 71 display(s), what size they will be, where they will be located, what context will be included, and so on.”
Simultaneously, U.S. District Judge John deGravelles in Baton Rouge is deliberating on motions related to the first suit, which has been initiated by several parents of children attending Louisiana public schools. This includes requests aimed at preventing the enforcement of the law.
Encompassing all public K-12 schools and state-funded universities, the law requires that the Ten Commandments be presented on a poster or framed document measuring no less than 11 inches by 14 inches, ensuring the text is prominently displayed in a large and legible font. Each poster must include a supplementary four-paragraph contextual statement.