Simpson Thacher, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit on behalf of nine families on June 24, 2024, challenging a new Louisiana law requiring that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every state public school classroom. The Complaint in Roake v. Brumley, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, asserts that the newly enacted statute violates longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent and the First Amendment. The Complaint further alleges that the new law “substantially interferes with and burdens” parents’ First Amendment right to direct their children’s religious education and upbringing, and that, in approving and mandating the display of a specific version of the Ten Commandments, goes against the doctrine of separation of church and state.
The lawsuit, brought on behalf of a multi-faith group of Louisiana families with children in public schools, alleges that the display is religiously coercive. The complaint (available here) seeks a declaratory judgment that the law is unconstitutional and an injunction to prevent its enforcement.
The Simpson Thacher team includes Jonathan Youngwood, Janet Gochman, Nicholas Prendergast and Jordan Krieger.
The case has been covered by publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Reuters, Associated Press, Axios, Bloomberg Law, Law.com, Forbes, HuffPost, Rolling Stone, NBC News, The Independent, Shreveport Times, Spectrum News, Courthouse News Service and many more.