Last month, Gov. Jeff Landry (R) signed a bill that made Louisiana the only state that requires public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom — a move that quickly prompted a group of parents to file a lawsuit alleging the new law is unconstitutional.
Louisiana
Some Louisiana schools can’t post Ten Commandments while law is challenged
But while the law is tested in court, Louisiana has to hold off on posting biblical signs in the five parishes where the plaintiffs’ children attend school, according to an agreement approved Friday by a federal judge.
In an order, U.S. District Judge John deGravelles of Louisiana’s Middle District set a hearing for Sept. 30 with a ruling expected by Nov. 15. Until then, the Ten Commandments can’t be displayed in schools located in the parishes of East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Orleans, St. Tammany and Vernon. Additionally, the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education cannot “promulgate advice, rules or regulations regarding proper implementation” of the new law until Nov. 15, the agreement states.
Under the new law, public K-12 schools and college classrooms must display the Ten Commandments — religious and ethical directives that in the Bible are handed down to the prophet Moses — on posters measuring at least 11 by 14 inches and featuring “large, easily readable font.” Schools are also required to post a three-paragraph statement that explains how the texts were “a prominent part of American public education” from the late 17th century through the late 20th century. The law gives schools until Jan. 1 to put up the Ten Commandments, and requires them to use donated posters or spend donated money, rather than public funds, to buy the displays.
Since it overwhelmingly passed in the Republican-controlled state legislature, the law has drawn national attention and become the latest example of lawmakers undertaking efforts that blur the lines between church and state — a battle that has particularly been brewing in public schools.
Five days after Landry signed the bill, on June 24, a coalition of advocacy groups, including the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and the American Civil Liberties Union’s national and state offices, filed a federal lawsuit. The plaintiffs in the case are nine Louisiana families of different faiths — among them four members of the clergy — who allege the law violates First Amendment language forbidding government establishment of religion and guaranteeing religious liberty.
“Permanently posting the Ten Commandments in every Louisiana public-school classroom — rendering them unavoidable — unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture,” says the suit, which charges that there is no long-standing tradition of hanging the commandments in classrooms and that courts have already ruled against the practice.
On July 8, the groups filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, asking the court to refrain from imposing the law or allowing any related enforcement of it during pending legal proceedings. The move, said Rev. Darcy Roake, a plaintiff in the case, sought to “ensure that our family’s religious-freedom rights are protected from day one of the upcoming school year.”
“The Ten Commandments displays required under state law will create an unwelcoming and oppressive school environment for children, like ours, who don’t believe in the state’s official version of scripture,” Darcy said in a statement this month. “We believe that no child should feel excluded in public school because of their family’s faith tradition.”
However, under the terms of the agreement, only students in five Louisiana parishes won’t see the Ten Commandments when they return to school next month.
The latest pushes to post the Ten Commandments in schools comes after similar — albeit failed — attempts throughout decades. In 1980, the Supreme Court ruled that a similar law in Kentucky violated the establishment clause of the Constitution, which bars the federal government from favoring any one religion. Other proposals to display the Ten Commandments in schools have been introduced — but have not become law — in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and South Carolina.
Yet, recent Supreme Court rulings have been more lenient toward religion in schools. In 2022, the court ruled in favor of a Washington state football coach who knelt at midfield to pray and was joined by student-athletes. The prayers were protected by the Constitution’s guarantees of free speech and religious exercise, the court ruled.
The Louisiana law has already been praised by members of the religious right and has found the support of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
During a gathering of the evangelical Faith and Freedom Coalition, Trump endorsed the Ten Commandments law, telling attendees: “Has anyone read the ‘Thou shalt not steal?’ I mean, has anybody read this incredible stuff? It’s just incredible. They don’t want it to go up. It’s a crazy world.’’
At the Republican National Convention on Thursday, the law was once again touted — this time by Landry, who connected it with the assassination attempt against Trump.
“I would submit that maybe if the Ten Commandments were hanging on [Thomas Matthew Crooks’] wall at the school that he was in, maybe he wouldn’t have took a shot at the president,” Landry said in an interview with Nexstar, the Louisiana Illuminator reported.
Anumita Kaur and Michelle Boorstein contributed to this report.
Incarcerated people with nonunanimous jury convictions would be able to send an application for parole to the committee within its first year.
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BATON ROUGE — A bill that would allow a committee to recommend parole to incarcerated Louisiana residents who received convictions through nonunanimous jury verdicts advanced 4-3 along party lines in a Senate judiciary committee.
Senate Bill 215 would allow the Department of Public Safety and Corrections to create a committee to review the appeal records of cases with nonunanimous convictions.
Incarcerated people with nonunanimous jury convictions would be able to send an application for parole to the committee within its first year. The committee would end after three years.
Democrats and advocacy groups opposed the bill, saying it did not go far enough to correct the problems.
The bill is meant to address possibly unjust convictions that are no longer legal in Louisiana after a constitutional amendment requiring unanimous verdicts passed in 2018.
The original law, allowing for convictions on as little as a 9-3 vote, was part of the 1898 constitutional convention, and it was designed to dilute Black jurors’ votes.
Louisiana changed the requirement to a 10-2 vote during the 1973 constitutional convention. Oregon, the only other state that allowed nonunanimous juries, had the same requirement.
Under the new bill, clerks of court would provide applicants with their records free of charge, and district attorneys and victims could respond at hearings.
Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Mandeville, who wrote the bill, said the legislation was a compromise between district attorneys who believed in the validity of convictions and criminal justice advocates.
“There’s likely not a way that either of those groups can come to a full consensus, but I think it was important to have the discussions and to continue to have the discussions,” McMath said.
Bradley R. Burget, president of the Louisiana District Attorney’s Association, supported the bill.
“We’re not exactly happy with it,” Burget said. “There’s a lot of the members of the DA’s association that may not be 100% for this, but I think this is something that they can live with.”
Zachary Daniels, the association’s executive director, liked the bill’s provision giving the committee authority to determine which nonunanimous convictions are just since “many of these contain strong evidence and are valid convictions where the prosecutor played by the rules at the time.”
Before the legislative session, the association found at least 1,215 cases a committee could analyze.
Daniels said it would be impossible to retry all of these cases because witnesses, officers and victims may no longer be available, and evidence may no longer exist.
The extensive list of issues the committee could consider includes the length of jury deliberations, the strength of the state’s case, the effectiveness of the defense attorney and evidence of racism.
Former Rep. Randal Gaines, who is now chair of the Democratic Party of Louisiana, filed a similar bill in 2022 that included the same list of issues that could be reviewed.
Herman Evans, who spent 37 years in prison after a nonunanimous jury convicted him in 1989 for a second-degree murder he did not commit, opposed the bill. Even after the perpetrator confessed in 2012, Evans did not get a hearing until 2024.
“That bill ain’t going to do nothing,” Evan said. “They’ve got the parole board. They’ve got the clemency board. It’s about the same board. And it costs about the same if you bring them back and let them get denied.”
Daniels said the expected cost to implement the bill is $1.8 million, based on a study resolution written for the 2025 legislative session by Sen. Charles Owen, R-Rosepine.
Owen also filed House Bill 219 that would allow courts to have resentencing hearings for nonunanimous convictions. The House Committee on Administration has not heard the bill yet.
One issue that arose in the meeting was the governor’s impact on the committee.
The governor would appoint to the committee three retired appellate court judges or Louisiana Supreme Court justices, one retired district attorney or assistant district attorney and one retired public defender.
The district attorney and public defender appointees would come from a list of three nominations from the Louisiana District Attorneys Association and the state public defender.
Although all five members would need to agree that a conviction was unfair, the current bill would allow the governor to make final decisions on releasing applicants.
The current bill does not provide details on the governor’s power. Daniels said the bill would eventually include that language after input from attorneys from the governor’s office.
Daniels also noted that there may be some conflict between the committee’s final decision and Gov. Jeff Landry’s tough-on-crime approach.
Sarah Gozalo of the Promise of Justice Initiative expressed concerns about the governor’s ultimate power.
“If we find that miscarriage of justice, the solution is, we will ask the governor — the one person who, in 2018, opposed getting rid of nonunanimous jurors,” Gozalo said.
Other opponents of the bill suggested keeping the bill in committee until it was amended to address their concerns.
Bruce Reilly, deputy director of Voice of the Experienced, and Erica Navalance, a criminal defense attorney, recommended adding post-conviction evidence to the records the committee sees to prove claims of ineffective defense counsel or prosecutorial misconduct.
McMath declined to defer the bill.
“I think that holding it up in this committee doesn’t necessarily give the chance to continue to move on through the process, where we all know that things sometimes can change and get new input,” McMath said.
Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, who had a similar bill in 2025 that did not pass, objected to the bill’s advancement.
“Just know that this is not an easy objection for me,” Duplessis said. “And if this bill does advance, I want to continue, or at least I want to work with you, to try to find a solution, because it’s been stated repeatedly, we’re not quite there.”
LAFAYETTE — Louisiana’s success on the mound this season has started with one name at the top of the rotation: Andrew Herrmann.
The fifth-year senior has been the backbone of the Ragin’ Cajuns’ pitching staff, leading the nation in innings pitched (63.2), starts (10) and complete games (three). His durability and consistency have helped stabilize a Louisiana team that has relied heavily on its arms throughout the year.
Herrmann’s journey to this point, however, hasn’t been smooth.
Throughout his collegiate career, he battled shoulder injuries that impacted his velocity and threatened to derail his development. Instead of fading, Herrmann adjusted, dedicating significant time to rehabilitation and refining his mechanics.
He credits pitching coach Taylor Sandefur for helping him regain form and confidence on the mound.
The work has paid off, as Herrmann has emerged not only as a statistical leader, but also as an emotional cornerstone for the team.
“This team, I mean the amount of hours we put out on the baseball field just working together,” Herrmann said. “I’d die for this team. I’d die for each one of those guys. … Just being able to work with those guys and see the effort that they put in each day has really kind of drawn me to it.”
For Herrmann, the season is about more than numbers. In his final year, his focus is on leaving a lasting impact on the program and helping elevate those around him.
Louisiana will look to continue its momentum this weekend with a three-game Sun Belt road series at Troy. The series opener is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m.
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Louisiana is suing a federal elections agency over what the state calls its right to ensure that those who register to vote provide sufficient proof they’re US citizens.
The US Election Assistance Commission improperly barred Louisiana from implementing its 2024 law by failing to approve state-specific additions to the federal voter registration form, the state says. But the Constitution gives states the authority to establish voter qualifications for federal elections, according to the suit filed Tuesday with the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
The EAC’s actions violate the National Voter Registration Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, the state claims.
As a “sovereign State,” Louisiana “has the constitutional right, power, and privilege to establish voting qualifications and regulate the conduct of federal elections, including voter registration requirements,” the state says.
In 2024, Louisiana lawmakers passed a bill that memorialized the state’s constitutional requirement that eligible voters must be US citizens, and added a requirement that voter applicants show proof of citizenship.
In a notice to the EAC, Louisiana gave the agency an opportunity to approve revisions to the state-specific instructions on the voter registration application before finalizing the changes, the state says.
Louisiana’s request for modifications to the federal form included one option to ask prospective voters to include their unique immigration number, or if an applicant doesn’t have such a number, to provide their place of birth, sex, and mother’s maiden name. The second option would be ask prospective voters to include that same information as an attachment to the federal form.
On Jan. 8, the EAC board voted to reject either option. The vote was 2-2, but the proposal needed a majority to pass, Louisiana says.
Louisiana has an “indisputable interest in preventing election fraud and preserving the integrity of its election process,” the suit says.
Louisiana is asking the court to hold EAC’s decision unlawful and to set aside its findings, or find that the agency acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner and committed an abuse of discretion. The state also wants the court to declare that, to the extent the NVRA requires Louisiana to use the federal form to register individuals to vote, the act is unconstitutional as applied to the state.
The state also seeks “reasonable” attorneys’ fees, and a court order that the federal form in its current state be found to be unconstitutional, or that the law leaves a state “free to request whatever additional information it determines is necessary to ensure that voters meet the qualifications it has the constitutional authority to establish.”
EAC media representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.
The Office of the Louisiana Attorney General represents the state and Secretary of State Nancy Landry (R). Plauché & Carr LLP also represents Landry.
The case is Louisiana v. U.S. Election Assistance Comm’n, W.D. La., No. 3:26-cv-01191, complaint 4/14/26.
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