Brigham Young University Prelaw Review
Keywords
religion, school, public school, religious neutrality, First Amendment, Lemon Test, Establishment Clause, Endorsement Test, Louisiana, education, Ten Commandments
Abstract
: In the summer of 2024, Louisiana’s governor signed House Bill 71 (HB71), which mandated all K-12 schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. While proponents of the bill claim it serves a secular purpose to promote morality and historical literacy, precedent cases like Stone v. Graham (1980) suggest otherwise. By requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public classrooms, HB71 is a violation of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause found in the First Amendment. This article analyzes the bill by comparing it to similar cases, and by applying both the Lemon and Endorsement Test to demonstrate that HB71 primarily advances religion rather than serving a neutral education function.
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Aliaga, Kimberly
(2025)
"Church and State Collide: The Constitutional Implications of Louisiana's Ten Commandments Bill,"
Brigham Young University Prelaw Review: Vol. 39, Article 12.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byuplr/vol39/iss1/12