Statement on Fifth Circuit’s decision to reconsider challenge to Louisiana Ten Commandments law

NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit approved a request today to reconsider a prior ruling in Rev. Roake v. Brumley, which held that a Louisiana law requiring displays of the Ten Commandments in every elementary and secondary public-school classroom is “plainly unconstitutional.” The grant of rehearing en banc vacates the court’s previous decision in the case, issued in June by a unanimous three-judge panel. 

In its June ruling, the court of appeals held that Louisiana’s H.B. 71 is unconstitutional under longstanding Supreme Court precedent, Stone v. Graham, and explained that “indiscriminately” displaying the Ten Commandments in all public-school classrooms across the state would cause an “irreparable” deprivation of the plaintiffs’ rights under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. 

The state and school board defendants subsequently petitioned for rehearing en banc, a procedural mechanism that authorizes a full court of appeals to reconsider rulings issued by three-judge panels. With today’s grant of the petition, the case will be reheard by all judges currently sitting on the Fifth Circuit.

Represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the ACLU, ACLU of Louisiana, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as pro bono counsel, the plaintiffs in Rev. Roake v. Brumley are a multifaith group of nine Louisiana families with children in public schools.

Fifth Circuit panel’s decision followed Supreme Court precedent

The organizations representing the plaintiffs issued the following statement in response to the decision:

“The panel’s unanimous ruling last June was well reasoned and correctly followed binding Supreme Court precedent. We believe there is no reason to revisit it. Nevertheless, we look forward to presenting our clients’ case to the entire court of appeals, and we remain confident that the constitutional values and principles at the heart of the First Amendment, which guarantee religious freedom for all students and families, will prevail in the end. 

“We emphasize that the district court’s preliminary injunction order in the Roake case – where the Court found that this law is facially unconstitutional – is not disturbed by the Fifth Circuit’s decision to rehear the appeal.”