( NewsNation ) — A federal judge has temporarily halted a Louisiana law that mandates the Ten Commandments be displayed in public schools.
U.S. District Judge John deGravelles granted a preliminary injunction Tuesday which stops the state from enforcing the law until the issue is sorted in the courts.
The judge wrote in the ruling that the law had an “overtly religious” purpose.
A coalition of civil liberties groups filed a lawsuit against the state after Gov. Jeff Landry signed a bill this summer requiring that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom on easily readable posters with three paragraphs about how the religious text has played an influential role in American history.
‘Not in our name’: Some clergy rebuke Ten Commandments law
“If you want to respect the rule of law,” the Republican governor said during his signing of the bill, “you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU); its branch in Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State; and the Freedom from Religion Foundation filed the suit on behalf of a multi-faith group of Louisiana families with children in public schools.