this lede is misleading, imo. Louisiana is absolutely not the “first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom.” Kentucky’s law requiring the same was struck down in Stone v Graham in 1980. 1/
The “first” designation matters because it obscures the history. This was a relatively settled area for decades, until Kennedy v Bremerton in 2022 shook up Establishment Clause jurisprudence. Saying this 2024 law is “the first” makes it seem like it’s novelty that matters rather than… 2/
what’s really happening: a coordinated campaign to use the court’s traditionalist drift as an opportunity to reopen settled questions about religious freedom. it’s not new! in fact I see it as particularly pernicious precisely because it has been done before. stare decisis for suckers &c. 3/3
Right. Seems like one of the legal groups that don’t like separation of church and state can try to get KY to mention the commandments in the curriculum somehow, then argue along the lines of Rehnquist’s dissent.
Yes?
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Rehnquist’s dissent in Stone v Graham (1980) seems like it gives the conservative supermajority a straight path to ruling this constitutional.
The state just needs to plausibly show some secular purpose. Or as in Kennedy v Bremerton, the court can just lie about the facts.
