I can’t really see this standing up in even the current Supreme Court (though it’ll probably get at least 3 votes to uphold the law).
Most of the “Christianist” (for lack of a better term) decisions of late have generally pitted the Free Exercise clause against the Establishment clause, to the detriment of the latter. But I can’t see how the state requiring posting the 10Cs in every classroom in the state has anything to do with any individual’s free exercise of their religion, even considering all the gyrations that the law does to put a veneer of legality on it. I think it would have a better chance if a single teacher opted to post the 10Cs & then got sued (or disciplined by a school district), rather than it being a state requirement.
So let’s see, ACLU sues once schools open in the fall, district court rules for them, LA appeals to 5th Circuit, which overturns district court on appeal because that’s just how they roll, case ends up with the Supremes for the 2026-7 session. By that time, Justices Kacsmaryk and Cannon might well be reliable votes to uphold this kind of law… who knows?
Easy: The legislators have the right to freely exercise their religion by passing this law. Hey, it makes as much sense as claiming that the 50 yard line of a football stadium with camera crews and required student attendance is “private”.
For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course, that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. ‘Blessed are the merciful’ in a courtroom? ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ in the Pentagon? Give me a break!
My guess is also that it’ll be overturned. I expect Thomas and Alito will be in favor of upholding the law. They’ll probably be the only two, with maybe an outside chance that Coney-Barrett would join them.
Ten Commandments, abortion pills, castration: How Louisiana’s new laws are pushing boundaries in the culture wars
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is pushing a conservative agenda forward, with the help of a supermajority in the state House and Senate.… Among the controversial bills that he signed into law: allowing the state to use nitrogen gas as a form of capital punishment; undoing a “raise the age” law to now treat all 17-year-olds who are charged with crimes as adults; essentially eliminating parole with few exceptions; and authorizing residents ages 18 and older to carry concealed handguns without permits, a law that goes into effect next month.
Another bill signed into law by Landry this week will allow judges to order certain sex offenders who commit crimes against children to undergo surgical castration — a first for any state in the nation.
Basically Louisiana has gone ntsu, along with Florida. Maybe it’s the heat.
She’s emerging as something of a wild card, especially with respect to the “legal philosophy” that Thomas and Alito are using to camouflage their cultural activism.
If there’s a choice between a clear legal precedent and a fig leaf of “culture and tradition” to justify radical regression, there are signs she might be starting to lean toward the former.
She’s still a conservative lunatic, make no mistake. But the responsibilities of her position as a jurist might possibly be making an impression on her, whereas Thomas and Alito have reacted to the acquisition of unchecked power by shouting “hold my beer” and accelerating toward the cliff.
Give her an actual legal argument that allows her to stay firmly on the hard right, and she’s happy. But she’s hinting that she needs more than vibey hand-waving with nothing behind it.
I’ve read that Roberts has some concern about how his court will be thought of by history. Maybe Coney Barrett does too.
But, honestly, neither has really proved that concern. Maybe Coney Barrett just wants to be not as bad as some others on the court (which isn’t too hard). Mostly she is an arch conservative. I would not place any hope in her rulings.
Right. Kavanaugh is more like the typical frat guy, whose interests are in things like protecting the good old boys club and their wealth, or maybe in keeping women and minorities in their place. Being a holy roller, and forcing other to do so, however, is less likely to be one of his priorities.
My impression was that people were hired to do this job - not explicitly, but rather to do things that needed to get done.
But my family was nowhere close to Orthodox, so this is second hand.
I saw a columnist argue awhile back that there are now three factions on the Supreme Court - the three liberals, the Thomas-Alito-Gorsuch MAGA burn-it-down faction, and the Roberts-Kavanaugh-Barrett “moderate conservative” faction. Most of the rulings we’ve seen lately tend to break down around those lines, with the Roberts faction being the kingmakers.
Gorsuch is not in the same group with Thomas and Alito, He is a strict constructionist.
Gorsuch called himself an originalist, aiming to interpret the constitution as it would have been understood at the time it was written. … Jonathan Adler, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University, framed Gorsuch in modern political terms to the Los Angeles Times as “a maverick conservative with a libertarian streak.”[10]
Since he joined the court through the 2020 term, Gorsuch authored the majority opinion in a 5-4 decision nine times and authored a dissent in an 8-1 decision two times.[11] Across those six terms, he has been in the majority for 83 percent of all cases.[12]
** a 5-4 majority opinion in McGirt v. Oklahoma (2019), holding that under the Indian Major Crimes Act, lands reserved for the Creek Nation in eastern Oklahoma constituted Indian Country. As a result, the state of Oklahoma could not legally try a Creek citizen for criminal conduct in state court.[13]*
** a 5-4 majority opinion in Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v. Texas (2022), holding that the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama-Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act (1987) functions as a federal ban on gaming activities occurring on tribal lands that are also banned in Texas*
a maverick conservative with a libertarian streak.