House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said he supports a new Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms and believes the law would survive legal challenges.
“I’m in favor of it,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday, “and I think it should be approved by the court. I think there are a few states that are trying to do the same thing, and I don’t find that offensive in any way. I think it’s a good thing.”
A controversial Louisiana law would require easy-to-read posters of the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all elementary and high school public school classrooms starting in 2025. The posters must also include a three-paragraph statement about the religious document’s impact on American history.
Louisiana’s deeply conservative and religious Republican governor, Jeff Landry, signed the bill last week after it passed the Republican-majority Legislature in the state where Johnson once served.
Johnson speculated about his former colleagues’ motives for passing the bill.
“The intent behind it is they’re trying to acknowledge the history and tradition of our country. I mean, obviously the Ten Commandments are hugely influential and hugely important to the development of our, well, Western civilization as a whole and certainly our country. And I think that’s what they had in mind,” Johnson said.
“What the Louisiana Legislature is trying to do, these are my old colleagues and I know what they’re trying to do, but they’re trying to re-emphasize the importance of a fundamental part of our country, and that should be allowed,” he later added. “This is not a religious establishment. No. They’re not trying to enforce a particular religious code. They’re just saying this is part of our history and tradition.”
The new law immediately sparked legal action.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) along with other civil rights groups filed a lawsuit on behalf of families of various religious backgrounds, arguing that the new law violates their First Amendment rights.
But Johnson said he has filed similar lawsuits before and expects the case will eventually make it to the Supreme Court, where the ACLU will ultimately lose.
He pointed to a similar case from the 1980s, Marsh v. Chambers, in which the court upheld the practice of opening Congress with a legislative prayer, saying it is “deeply rooted in the history and tradition of our nation.”
“I think this Supreme Court may effectively affirm what the Supreme Court did in the early 1980s in Marsh v. Chambers and other similar cases, so we’ll see how that goes, but I’m in favor,” Johnson said.
Johnson joins other conservatives in backing the new law, including former President Donald Trump, who also voiced support for the mandate.
