Louisiana’s governor wasn’t deterred from signing a Ten Commandments measure into law — he didn’t even notice when a schoolgirl fainted behind him during this week’s ceremony.
It came as Republican Gov. Jeff Landry praised legislation requiring the Bible’s rules to be displayed in every classroom in the state, noting that “if you want to respect the rule of law, you have to start with the original legislature.”
As he spoke on Thursday, a schoolgirl appeared to stare blankly at the ceiling before collapsing and falling to the floor.
Landry continued to speak about the controversial bill as adults and children gathered around the child, telling the audience that Moses “got his commandments from God and then gave them to us.”
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry praised a new law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms across the state just before a schoolgirl collapses behind him
Landry continued to praise the controversial bill as adults and schoolchildren swarmed the collapsed girl behind him
Images of the moment quickly circulated on social media, with some taking the opportunity to show their disgust at the law.
MSNBC host Katie Phang noted that Landry “sat with a smug look of smugness as a young child passed out behind him.”
“Nobody worrying about the kid fainting in the background and carrying on is a perfect representation of this country,” another commenter added, with a third feeling that “the kid fainting is a bad omen.”
Critics of the legislation have argued that it is a clear violation of the Constitution’s provisions on the separation of church and state.
The law signed by Landry requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in the state’s classrooms starting in 2025, in “large, easy-to-read font.”
Posters will be displayed in classrooms from kindergarten through state-funded universities, and will also include a “context statement” explaining that the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of American public life for nearly three centuries.” education.’
The southern state is the first in the country to implement this policy under a bill signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry (pictured)
Louisiana became the first state in the country to pass the Ten Commandments Act, although some say the law will likely be challenged in court now that it has been signed.
The ACLU has already announced it will file a lawsuit against Louisiana, saying in a statement that “the law violates the separation of church and state and is blatantly unconstitutional.”
“The First Amendment promises that each of us can decide for ourselves what religious beliefs, if any, we should hold and practice, without government pressure.
“Politicians have no business imposing their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools.”
The posters would be paid for by donations. State resources will not be used to implement the mandate, based on the wording in the legislation.
The law also “authorizes” – but does not require – the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance to be displayed in K-12 public schools.
Louisiana law forces all classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. Pictured: Workers repaint a Ten Commandments billboard on Interstate 71 on Election Day near Chenoweth, Ohio, Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Similar bills requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms have been proposed in other states, including Texas, Oklahoma and Utah.
However, the threat of a legal battle over the constitutionality of such measures has quashed efforts in other states.
In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law was unconstitutional and violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that Congress “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
After he finished signing the bills, Landry and his wife Sharon reportedly stopped by the girl’s home to check on her, her parents told local police. Acadiana Attorneyand gave her an official governor’s pen and a stuffed alligator.
“It was definitely reassuring that he was going to check on her like that,” her mother told the outlet.
The Supreme Court ruled that the law had no secular purpose, but rather served a clearly religious purpose.
Louisiana’s controversial law, in a state anchored in the Bible Belt, comes during a new era of conservative leadership in the state under Landry, who replaced two-term Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards in January.
The Republican Party also has a two-thirds supermajority in the Legislature, and Republicans hold every elected position statewide, paving the way for lawmakers to push a conservative agenda during the legislative session that concluded earlier this month .
