Simpson Thacher, alongside the ACLU, ACLU of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, secured a victory on June 20 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously ruled that a Louisiana law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Enacted last June, Louisiana’s H.B. 71 required that all public schools permanently display a government-approved, denominational version of the Ten Commandments in every classroom in every public school in the state. The decision upholds a federal district court’s November 2024 preliminary injunction in Rev. Roake v. Brumley, which prevents the defendant state officials and school boards from implementing the statute.
In its decision, pointing to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Stone v. Graham which overturned a similar Kentucky law, the Court of Appeals explained that Stone remains good law that is binding on lower courts and “[u]nder Stone, H.B. 71 is plainly unconstitutional.” The court further explained that, “under the statute’s minimum requirements, the [Ten Commandments] posters must be indiscriminately displayed in every public school classroom in Louisiana regardless of class subject-matter,” and thus, if allowed to go up, “those displays will cause an ‘irreparable’ deprivation of [the Plaintiffs’] First Amendment rights.”
The lawsuit was filed on June 24, 2024 on behalf of a multi-faith group of Louisiana families with children in public schools and alleged that the display was religiously coercive.
Litigation Department Co-Chair Jonathan Youngwood was named “Litigator of the Week” by The Am Law Litigation Daily alongside Heather Weaver, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU, when the preliminary injunction was obtained. Jon also argued the appeal.
The Simpson Thacher team also included Janet Gochman, Nicholas Prendergast, Jordan Krieger, Noah Gimbel, Lara Fishbane and Noah Huffman.
The case has been covered by publications including AP, Axios, Bloomberg Law, CBS News, NBC News, The Hill, The Independent, The New York Times, The Washington Post and many more.