In a move that has sparked controversy and legal challenges, every public school classroom in Louisiana, from elementary to university level, has been ordered to display a poster featuring the Ten Commandments, as reported by BBC. This Republican-backed measure, signed into law by Governor Jeff Landry on Wednesday, is the first of its kind in the United States.

The new law mandates that the sacred text be displayed in "large, easily readable font" on an 11-by-14-inch poster, with the commandments being "the central focus" of the display. The posters must include a four-paragraph "context statement" describing how the directives "were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries."

The law's author, Republican state lawmaker Dodie Horton, has spoken of the importance of returning a "moral code" to classrooms. "It's like hope is in the air everywhere," Horton was quoted as saying when the bill received the governor's approval.

BREAKING NEWS: Louisiana just became the 1st U.S. state to require the Ten Commandments be posted in classrooms. pic.twitter.com/aGtfEehxsj

— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) June 19, 2024

 While Christians regard the Ten Commandments as fundamental rules from God on how to live, opponents argue that the law violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibits the government from establishing an official religion. "The law was 'blatantly unconstitutional,'" read a joint statement from the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

BREAKING: We're suing Louisiana for requiring all public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

Public schools are not Sunday schools.

— ACLU (@ACLU) June 19, 2024

Similar laws have recently been proposed by other Republican-led states, including Texas, Oklahoma, and Utah. The US Supreme Court has previously ruled against a similar law in Kentucky, striking it down in 1980 on the grounds that requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools "had no secular legislative purpose" and was "plainly religious in nature."

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In a statement, the Democrat said she had reconsidered her decision, as part of the settlement of a federal lawsuit that Hikind had brought against her this year.

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"Mr. Hikind has a First Amendment right to express his views and should not be blocked for them," she said. "In retrospect, it was wrong and improper and does not reflect the values I cherish. I sincerely apologize for blocking Mr. Hikind."

Hikind, a former New York state Assemblyman, said he was blocked from Ocasio-Cortez's @AOC campaign account, which has 5.7 million followers, after he criticized her comments comparing US-Mexico border detention camps to concentration camps.

Hikind was pleased with the representative's comments. "I couldn't ask for much more at this point," he said. "She never apologizes."

According to the New York Post, Hikind on Monday invited the congresswoman to speak personally with Holocaust survivors.

"Let the survivors share with her what a concentration camp means to a survivor of the Holocaust," he said, adding that he hoped it would be the beginning of a dialogue between himself and Ocasio-Cortez.

Hikind had filed his lawsuit on First Amendment grounds this year. It came after a federal appeals panel had said US President Donald Trump couldn't block people who criticized him from his Twitter account.

That panel said the majority of Trump's comments on his account were official and by blocking someone critical of him, he was silencing them and violating the First Amendment.

Ocasio-Cortez uses her Twitter account to engage with people in a number of ways, including on policy.

She said she reserves the right to block people from her account who engage in harassment.

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