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Following Louisiana’s enactment of a new law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other civil rights organizations have announced plans to file a lawsuit challenging the legislation.

The new law stipulates that starting next year, the Ten Commandments must be displayed on a poster or framed document at least eleven inches by fourteen inches with large, easily readable font.

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Civil rights groups, including the ACLU, the ACLU of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation, argue that the law violates the separation of church and state and is unconstitutional. In a statement, they said “The law violates the separation of church and state and is blatantly unconstitutional. The First Amendment promises that we all get to decide for ourselves what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice, without pressure from the government. Politicians have no business imposing their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools.”

Governor Landry has anticipated the legal challenges, telling republican supporters at an event, “I can’t wait to be sued.”

This controversy of bringing the Ten Commandments into school is not new; the Supreme Court ruled in the 1980 case Stone v. Graham that the First Amendment prohibits public schools from posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

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