# House Bill 71

Louisiana House Bill 71 (H.B. 71), or Act 676, was a law passed by the Louisiana State Legislature and signed by Governor Jeff Landry in June 2024 that directs schools to display a copy of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
On November 12, 2024, United States District Judge John W. deGravelles ruled House Bill 71 unconstitutional, arguing that it was "coercive to students" who "cannot opt out of viewing the Ten Commandments when they are displayed in every classroom, every day of the year, every year of their education". Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill stated that the state would appeal the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

## Background

In its 1980 decision Stone v. Graham, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a Kentucky statute requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public classrooms across the state violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, noting that the Ten Commandments were not fully secular, and thus violated the separation of church and state.
In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled in Van Orden v. Perry that a display of the Ten Commandments at the Texas State Capitol was constitutional on the grounds that it was an acknowledgement of the secular history of religion in the United States. However, on the same day Van Orden was decided, the Supreme Court also ruled in McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union that displaying the Ten Commandments in courthouses and public schools was unconstitutional, on the grounds that such display had the intent of promoting religion.
Louisiana State Representative Dodie Horton introduced the bill to the Louisiana House of Representatives, describing the Ten Commandments as the basis of all laws. After passing the Committee on Education in a 10–3 vote, the bill was signed into law by Louisiana governor Jeff Landry on June 19, 2024.
Before the passage of House Bill 71, similar bills were introduced in other states, such as South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas. The passage of House Bill 71 follows other laws in Louisiana regulating education, including a law allowing chaplains to be employed by public schools, and a law requiring transgender students to be referred to using the pronouns aligned to their sex assigned at birth. Horton herself, a Southern Baptist, has introduced other bills similarly requiring the display of text in classrooms, including a law in 2023 requiring the display of the national motto, "In God We Trust", in classrooms.

## Content

The law mandates that by January 1, 2025, all state-funded school classrooms in Louisiana must have "a poster or framed document that is at least eleven inches by fourteen inches" with a King James Bible version of the Ten Commandments as the display's "central focus", in a "large, easily readable font". The display will also include a "context statement" explaining the Ten Commandments' role in American education and government. Additionally, the law allows for the display of the Mayflower Compact, the Northwest Ordinance, and the Declaration of Independence in conjunction with the Ten Commandments, but does not require their display. The law does not provide state funding for the posters, instead relying on donations.

## Legal challenges

House Bill 71 faced numerous legal challenges before its enforcement in January 2025.

### Roake v. Brumley

Immediately after the bill was signed, the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation announced that they would be suing the state of Louisiana over the new law. Indeed, on June 24, 2024, the groups, along with the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana known as Roake vs. Brumley, representing parents of Louisiana public school children against Louisiana Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, and five school boards, seeking both a preliminary injunction and to declare the law unconstitutional.
On November 12, 2024, United States District Judge John W. deGravelles ruled House Bill 71 unconstitutional, arguing that it was "coercive to students" who "cannot opt out of viewing the Ten Commandments when they are displayed in every classroom, every day of the year, every year of their education". He reasoned that in requiring a religious text, as opposed to other important documents such as the Constitution or Bill of Rights, the bill was "overtly religious" and thus violated the First Amendment.
According to Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill, the ruling only applied to the parishes of East Baton Rouge, Livingston, St. Tammany, Orleans and Vernon, whose school boards were named as defendants in the case, although deGravelles' ruling required Brumley and the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to inform all other school boards as well. Murrill also stated that the state would appeal the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
On November 15, the Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay motion from the state, limiting the ruling to the five parishes named as defendants in the case. However, on November 20, it decided against temporarily lifting deGravelles' ruling pending appeal, keeping the lower court ruling in effect until the Court of Appeals decides the case.

### Other legal challenges

On September 23, 2024, Christopher Dier, the 2020 Louisiana Teacher of the Year, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana challenging the law.

## Reactions

House Bill 71 has faced both praise and criticism since its passing.

### Politicians

The Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, stated that he would pass a similar bill requiring the Ten Commandments in schools in the next legislative session, known as Senate Bill 1515. He criticized Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Dade Phelan for failing to put the bill to a vote on the floor in the last legislative session on Twitter. 2024 president-elect and former president of the United States Donald Trump similarly endorsed the law, both in a speech to evangelical Christians on June 22, 2024, as well as in a post on Truth Social. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson similarly endorsed the law, stating that he expected it to survive legal challenges.
In response to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, Governor Landry stated his belief that if the Ten Commandments were present in the assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks', classrooms, the shooting would not have occurred.
Other politicians have criticized the legislation; in particular, Democratic Louisiana Senate member Royce Duplessis called the lawmakers supporting the legislation "hypocritical".