On Tuesday, the full, 17-judge U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit heard consolidated oral arguments in a crucial case that is all but guaranteed to make it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The predictable controversy surrounding the litigation, which involves similar but distinct mandatory Ten Commandments display laws arising out of Texas and Louisiana, is revealing as to just how far America has fallen from its Founders’ vision.

In 2024, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law a bill requiring that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom—from kindergarten through the university level—throughout the state. As Landry explained at the time, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you gotta start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.”

Last year, the Lone Star State followed by passing a nearly identical statute. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who as Texas attorney general in 2005 successfully defended a Ten Commandments monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds before the Supreme Court, echoed Landry in signing Texas’ bill: “Faith and freedom are the foundation of our nation.”

Aggrieved liberals and secularists immediately filed First Amendment lawsuits, and district court judges promptly enjoined enforcement in both states. The question now pending before the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit, where I once served as a law clerk, is whether the Ten Commandments laws may once again be........

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