Document Type
Article
Media Type
text
Publication Title
Northern Illinois University Law Review
Abstract
Louisiana recently passed a law requiring that a display of the Ten Commandments be placed in all public school classrooms in the state. The law is currently facing an Establishment Clause challenge in the Fifth Circuit. This Comment argues that Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law does not violate the original public meaning of the Establishment Clause. The history of the Establishment Clause suggests that noncoercive support of religion was widely accepted before and up through the time of the First Amendment’s enactment. Following Kennedy v. Bremerton School District’s abandonment of the Lemon v. Kurtzman test, the Ten Commandments law must be analyzed based on the Establishment Clause’s original meaning. Under such an analysis, the Ten Commandments law does not violate the Establishment Clause, as understood by a reasonable observer at the time of its enactment.
First Page
307
Last Page
332
Publication Date
Spring 5-1-2026
Department
College of Law
Recommended Citation
Kato, Richard
(2026)
"The Establishment Clause and the Ten Commandments Post-Lemon,"
Northern Illinois University Law Review: Vol. 46:
Iss.
2, Article 7.
Suggested Citation
Richard Kato, Comment, The Establishment Clause and the Ten Commandments Post-Lemon, 46 N. Ill. Univ. L. Rev. 307 (2026).
