In his recent interview on American Family Radio, Michael Donnelly explained that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) "is trying to make the claim that by placing Ten Commandment posters in classrooms at the behest of the legislature, that it's establishing religion."
While acknowledging that the First Amendment does say that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, he points out that it also prevents the prohibition and free exercise thereof.
"This case is going to go to the Supreme Court almost certainly," Donnelly predicted. "The court will have an opportunity to clarify … that Lemon actually isn't the test anymore; they've abandoned it."
As First Liberty Institute attorney Matt Krause recently told AFN, the U.S. Supreme Court discarded the 1970s Lemon test in 2022.
It was used in Stone v. Graham in 1980 against Kentucky's similar law requiring the Ten Commandments in the classroom. In that case, the court said the law did violate the Establishment Clause. But considering the outcome of Kennedy v. Bremerton, Donnelly believes the ACLU case, Roake v. Brumley, gives SCOTUS a chance to overturn that.
"My suspicion is that it's going to end up differently," he told AFR. "I think Stone v. Graham will be overturned, and the court will say what Louisiana has done does not offend the First Amendment."
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, who allege that Louisiana's main interest in passing the law is to impose religious beliefs on public school children, include a Unitarian Universalist minister, a Presbyterian reverend, nonreligious parents, a Jewish parent and an atheist.
They are asking the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana to declare HB 71 is in violation of the First Amendment and prevent the Ten Commandments from being displayed in schools.
