Louisiana Teacher Asks Supreme Court to Strike Down Classroom Ten Commandments Law
Chris Dier, a New Orleans high school teacher and Louisiana's 2020 Teacher of the Year, filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court on August 25 asking the justices to strike down the state's law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the 2024 law to take effect earlier this year, and the posters began going up in classrooms this summer. Dier's petition raises two questions: whether his Establishment Clause challenge is ready for the courts to decide, and whether the law itself violates the Establishment Clause.
Dier, who says he was raised a devout Catholic and attended a Baptist university, has said he does not object to the Ten Commandments themselves, only to the state requiring their display in every classroom. Louisiana's response to the petition is due September 28. The case follows a separate Fifth Circuit ruling in April that allowed a similar Texas law to stand, raising the odds of a Supreme Court showdown over Ten Commandments classroom laws in multiple states.
