A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments Thursday debating whether Louisiana’s law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools should be enforced.
Louisiana Solicitor General J. Benjamin Aguiñaga argued the appellees, nine multifaith families who previously challenged the law in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, jumped the gun with their lawsuit and claimed they could not challenge a hypothetical or future display of the commandments without context. The state is attempting to reverse a November order by U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles of the Middle District of Louisiana that granted the families a preliminary injunction against the law, known as House Bill 71, which was set to go into effect Jan. 1. The case is captioned Roake v. Brumley.