Latest news with #5thCircuit
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal appeals court rules Louisiana Ten Commandments school law is unconstitutional
A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public-school classrooms and state-funded universities in the state is unconstitutional. Three federal appellate judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana said they affirmed a lower district court's ruling that the statute was "facially unconstitutional." Last June, a group of parents sued the state over concerns the law that went into effect in January violates the separation of church and state. The district court issued a preliminary injunction on the law last November in the five school districts that involve plaintiffs. Arkansas Families Sue To Keep 10 Commandments Out Of Classroom Before New Law Takes Effect "H.B. 71 is plainly unconstitutional. The district court did not err," the appeals court said on Friday, referring to the statute. "H.B. 71's minimum requirements provide sufficient details about how the Ten Commandments must be displayed. Plaintiffs have shown that those displays will cause an "irreparable" deprivation of their First Amendment rights." Read On The Fox News App The law was passed by Louisiana's Republican-controlled legislature last year and says the text of the Ten Commandments must be written in "large, easily readable font." Supreme Court Weighs Religious Liberty Dispute Over Public Funding For Catholic Charter School "The Ten Commandments must be displayed with a 'context statement' about the 'History of the Ten Commandments in American Public Education,' and 'may' be displayed with 'the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance,'" the statute says. "We are grateful for this decision, which honors the religious diversity and religious-freedom rights of public school families across Louisiana," Rev. Darcy Roake, a plaintiff in the case represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said. "As an interfaith family, we believe that our children should receive their religious education at home and within our faith communities, not from government officials." Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in a statement: "This ruling will ensure that Louisiana families – not politicians or public-school officials – get to decide if, when and how their children engage with religion. It should send a strong message to Christian Nationalists across the country that they cannot impose their beliefs on our nation's public-school children. Not on our watch." Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement on Friday that she and her office "strongly disagree" with the ruling, according to "We will immediately seek relief from the full Fifth Circuit and, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court," she added. Fox News Digital has reached out to Murrill for comment. Arkansas has a similar law and other Republican states are on the verge of similar article source: Federal appeals court rules Louisiana Ten Commandments school law is unconstitutional
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Louisiana's Ten Commandments law struck down by US appeals court
By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) -A federal appeals court on Friday blocked Louisiana from enforcing a law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in all classrooms of the state's public schools and universities. Calling the law "plainly unconstitutional," a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans unanimously upheld a November 2024 ruling by a lower court judge who enjoined the law's enforcement. It is a victory for parents and students who accused Louisiana of trampling on their religious rights, and a defeat for Republicans and conservative groups trying to make expressions of faith more prominent in society. The appeals court is widely considered among the country's most conservative, though two judges on Friday's panel were appointed by Democratic presidents. According to published reports, Louisiana's Republican attorney general, Liz Murrill, will ask the full appeals court and perhaps eventually the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, to review the case. Murrill's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nine families, including several clergy, with children in public schools sued to block the law, saying it violated the First Amendment prohibition against state establishment of religion. "We are grateful for this decision, which honors the religious diversity and religious-freedom rights of public school families across Louisiana," said Darcy Roake, a Unitarian Universalist minister who with her Jewish husband Adrian Van Young is among the plaintiffs. Louisiana's law requires the display of posters or framed versions of the Ten Commandments that are at least 11 inches by 14 inches, with the Commandments being the "central focus" and printed in a large, easy-to-read font. The law, signed by Republican Governor Jeff Landry, covers K-12 schools and state-funded colleges, and was scheduled to take effect on January 1. KENTUCKY PRECEDENT In Friday's decision, Circuit Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez cited a 1980 Supreme Court decision, Stone v. Graham, that struck down a Kentucky law requiring similar displays of the Ten Commandments because it had no "secular legislative purpose." Louisiana said the Stone decision no longer applied because it relied on a precedent that the Supreme Court has disavowed. It also said that even if Stone applied, Louisiana's case differed because schools could display the Ten Commandments with documents such as the Declaration of Independence, reflecting a secular "historical and educational" purpose. Ramirez, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden, nonetheless cited several legislators who expressed religion-based justifications for Louisiana's law. These included that the Ten Commandments were "God's law," and that opponents were waging an "attack" on Christianity. "If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments," Ramirez wrote, quoting the Stone decision. "This is not a permissible state objective." Ramirez also rejected Louisiana's argument that the Supreme Court's 2022 decision favoring a Washington state high school football coach who prayed with players at the 50-yard line after games required upholding the Ten Commandments law. She said this was in part because the Washington case primarily concerned First Amendment provisions governing free speech and the free exercise of religion. Louisiana was the first U.S. state requiring displays of the Ten Commandments since the Kentucky law was struck down. The case is Roake et al v Brumley et al, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 24-30706.
Fox News
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Federal appeals court rules Louisiana Ten Commandments school law is unconstitutional
A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public-school classrooms and state-funded universities in the state is unconstitutional. Three federal appellate judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana said they affirmed a lower district court's ruling that the statute was "facially unconstitutional." Last June, a group of parents sued the state over concerns the law that went into effect in January violates the separation of church and state. The district court issued a preliminary injunction on the law last November in the five school districts that involve plaintiffs. "H.B. 71 is plainly unconstitutional. The district court did not err," the appeals court said on Friday, referring to the statute. "H.B. 71's minimum requirements provide sufficient details about how the Ten Commandments must be displayed. Plaintiffs have shown that those displays will cause an "irreparable" deprivation of their First Amendment rights." The law was passed by Louisiana's Republican-controlled legislature last year and says the text of the Ten Commandments must be written in "large, easily readable font." "The Ten Commandments must be displayed with a 'context statement' about the 'History of the Ten Commandments in American Public Education,' and 'may' be displayed with 'the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the Northwest Ordinance,'" the statute says. "We are grateful for this decision, which honors the religious diversity and religious-freedom rights of public school families across Louisiana," Rev. Darcy Roake, a plaintiff in the case represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said. "As an interfaith family, we believe that our children should receive their religious education at home and within our faith communities, not from government officials." Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in a statement: "This ruling will ensure that Louisiana families – not politicians or public-school officials – get to decide if, when and how their children engage with religion. It should send a strong message to Christian Nationalists across the country that they cannot impose their beliefs on our nation's public-school children. Not on our watch." Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement on Friday that she and her office "strongly disagree" with the ruling, according to "We will immediately seek relief from the full Fifth Circuit and, if necessary, the U.S. Supreme Court," she added. Fox News Digital has reached out to Murrill for comment. Arkansas has a similar law and other Republican states are on the verge of similar laws.
Boston Globe
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Supreme Court allows vape companies to pick courts to hear challenges
Advertisement Liberal Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissented from the opinion, which sent the case back to a lower court for more proceedings. Jackson wrote that the majority's opinion allows Reynolds to make an 'end run around … venue restrictions.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The FDA had told the justices that R.J. Reynolds and other electronic cigarette manufacturers were gaming court system rules by filing the vast majority of product-denial appeals in the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, based in New Orleans, even though they were based in other appeals court circuits. The tactic was hindering the FDA's ability to regulate vapes that are used by hundreds of thousands of teenagers, the agency said. In the case before the justices, the 5th Circuit — widely seen as more sympathetic to the companies' arguments than other circuits — overturned the FDA's denial of an R.J. Reynolds application. Advertisement The electronic cigarette ruling was one of six decisions issued Friday, with at least a week left in the Supreme Court's term. Ten decisions remain, including cases involving the legality of age-verification laws to access online pornography and nationwide court orders blocking President Trump's ban on birthright citizenship. In addition to the vape decision, the Supreme Court on Friday revived lawsuits brought by US victims of terrorist attacks in Israel against the Palestine Liberation Organization. The opinion, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., upheld a 2019 federal law passed in response to attacks that allows Americans to sue. The court said that law does not violate the rights of the PLO. In a 7-2 decision, the justices also cleared the way for fuel producers to sue the Environmental Protection Agency over California's stricter standards for vehicle emissions. California's efforts are already in flux after being targeted by Trump and Republicans in Congress. Under the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, manufacturers must get FDA approval to sell some existing products, as well as new products, that are marketed in more than one state. The Vuse line of menthol vapes are the ones in question in the R.J. Reynolds case. Ryan J. Watson, who is representing R.J. Reynolds, told the justices at oral arguments that the company was permitted to file a challenge in the 5th Circuit because the act allows 'any person adversely affected' by a denial to file a challenge in the District of Columbia Circuit or the 'circuit in which such person resides or has their principal place of business.' Advertisement R.J. Reynolds partnered with a Texas vape store and the Mississippi Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores Association to bring the challenge to the FDA ruling. The 5th Circuit covers Texas and Mississippi, while R.J. Reynolds is in the 4th Circuit. Vivek Suri, an assistant to the solicitor general, arguing on behalf of the government, said Congress never meant for retailers or their representatives, rather than manufacturers, to be parties to such litigation when it passed the act. He pointed out that retailers aren't notified when the FDA rejects manufacturers' applications to market vaping products and said the tactic defeats the venue restrictions laid out in the law. But the Supreme Court said Friday it has long established a broad interpretation of what it means to be adversely affected by a law, including in the category anyone even 'arguably within the zone of interests' that the statute regulates. Vape industry groups applauded the ruling. Watson, the attorney for R.J. Reynolds, said the court 'recognized that federal agency action can have downstream effects that can be devastating for parties that are not the most direct target of the agency's action.' The ruling ensures that 'the courthouse doors are not closed for those adversely affected parties,' he said. Yolonda C. Richardson, president and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said the decision will bolster efforts to market addictive products to young people. The ruling 'gives e-cigarette manufacturers an open invitation to forum-shop for friendly courts in their relentless quest to lure and addict kids with flavored, nicotine-loaded products,' she said. In her dissent to Friday's ruling, Jackson noted that two other appeals courts had rejected similar challenges filed by other manufacturers of flavored electronic cigarettes before R.J. Reynolds filed its appeal to the 5th Circuit. Advertisement 'It thus became (perhaps) imperative from RJR Vapor's perspective that its own lawsuit challenging the FDA's denial of its flavored e-cigarette marketing applications be filed somewhere else,' Jackson wrote.
Washington Post
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Appeals court blocks Louisiana law requiring Ten Commandments in classrooms
A federal appeals court on Friday blocked a Louisiana law requiring public school districts to display the Ten Commandments in all classrooms, calling it unconstitutional. A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit wrote in its ruling that if the law were allowed to stand, 'impressionable students will confront a display of the Ten Commandments for nearly every hour of every school day of their public school education in the course of their regular activities.'
