The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit voted 12-6 to lift a preliminary injunction that had kept Louisiana’s 2024 law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public classrooms from taking effect, saying key details about how the requirement will be implemented remain unclear and the constitutional challenge is premature.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, sitting en banc, on Friday lifted a preliminary injunction that had blocked Louisiana from enforcing a 2024 law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms.
The court voted 12-6 to vacate the injunction, concluding that the record still lacks critical implementation details needed to assess the Establishment Clause questions at the preliminary stage. The majority said it is not yet clear how prominently the displays will be placed, whether teachers will incorporate the text into instruction, or whether schools will also post related materials the law contemplates—such as historical documents including the Mayflower Compact or the Declaration of Independence.
The ruling follows earlier litigation in which a lower court blocked the law and a three-judge 5th Circuit panel held the measure unconstitutional. After the case was taken up by the full court, that panel decision was set aside and the en banc court issued the new ruling lifting the injunction.
In a concurring opinion, Judge James Ho praised the law in sweeping terms, writing that it is constitutional and consistent with the nation’s traditions. In dissent, Judge James L. Dennis said the statute amounts to government endorsement of religion in settings where students are required to attend school, calling it the kind of establishment the Constitution’s framers sought to prevent.
Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, welcomed the decision, posting: “Common sense is making a comeback!” State Attorney General Liz Murrill has also pointed schools to sample displays that she says would comply with the statute.
Civil liberties groups opposing the law—including the ACLU of Louisiana and the Freedom From Religion Foundation—criticized the decision and said they expect the legal fight to continue, warning that implementation could trigger further litigation over how individual districts carry out the requirement. The lawsuit challenging the law includes a mix of families and other plaintiffs who argue the mandate pressures students and violates the separation of church and state.
The decision comes as other Republican-led states pursue similar measures. Arkansas has faced a federal legal challenge to its own Ten Commandments classroom-display requirements, and Texas enacted a classroom-display law that took effect on Sept. 1, 2025.
Past Supreme Court decisions have set key markers in the debate. In 1980, the court struck down a Kentucky law requiring the Ten Commandments in classrooms, finding it lacked a secular legislative purpose. In 2005, the court issued split rulings on Ten Commandments displays—rejecting certain courthouse exhibits in Kentucky while upholding a longstanding Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas state Capitol.
