House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he is in favor of a new law in his home state that requires the Ten Commandments be placed in every public school classroom.
The legislation signed into law last week by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry requires a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in "large, easily readable font" in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities.
"I'm supportive of it, yeah," Johnson told reporters Wednesday, according to The Hill. "And I think it should pass court muster. I think there's a number of states trying to look to do the same thing, and I don't think it's offensive in any way. I think it's a positive thing."
Opponents of the Louisiana law are filing court challenges, saying it violates the First Amendment's establishment clause. But supporters are leaning on a 6-3 ruling in 2022 by the Supreme Court in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, which gave a Washington state high school football coach his job back after he was disciplined over a controversy involving prayer on the field.
The majority opinion by Justice Neil Gorsuch tossed out the long-held "Lemon test" used by courts to view establishment clause cases — created in the 1971 case Lemon v. Kurtzman.
"The intent behind it is that they're trying to acknowledge our history and tradition in the country," Johnson said. "I mean, obviously, the Ten Commandments have a huge impact, and they're very important in the development of our — well, of all of Western civilization, but certainly of our country. And I think that's what they had in mind.
"What the Louisiana Legislature is trying to do — those are my old colleagues down there, I know what they're up to — they're trying to reemphasize the importance of that foundational part of our country, and that should be permissible. It's not an establishment of religion. It's not. They're not trying to enforce any particular religious code. They're just saying this is part of the history and tradition."
Former President Donald Trump has backed the Louisiana law, and Republican Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told Newsmax last week he will push for similar legislation in his state.
Patrick wrote Friday in a post on X that Texas could have been the first state to pass such a bill after its Senate, over which he presides, last year advanced legislation to the House. But, he said, it was stalled by Republican Speaker Dade Phelan, who has been criticized by conservatives for leading an effort to impeach Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other civil liberties groups filed a lawsuit Monday in Louisiana on behalf of families from different religious backgrounds, arguing the new law violates their First Amendment rights, The Hill reported.
But Johnson said he used to litigate similar cases, and that he expected the case to make its way to the Supreme Court, where he predicted the state will prevail.
He pointed to a similar case from the 1980s, Marsh v. Chambers, in which the court upheld Nebraska's practice of starting a legislative session with a prayer, noting it "is deeply embedded in the history and tradition of our country," The Hill reported.
"This court is open to effectively affirming what the court did in the early '80s, with Marsh v. Chambers and other cases like that," Johnson said. "So, we'll see how it turns out."