The Ten Commandments have gone on display in Louisiana public school classrooms, and a New Orleans teacher is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether Louisiana's law dictating their appearance is a violation of the First Amendment. So what happens next?
The odds just aren't in its favor, says Loyola law professor Dane Ciolino.
"About one cert petition in a hundred gets granted," Ciolino explained. But he says a different case may end up settling the issue.
"There is, however, a parallel case out of Texas with very similar facts that has gone to a final judgment and a cert petition is currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court," Ciolino said.
He says that case it further along in the legal process, and is therefore more likely to get the justices' attention.
Both the Texas and Louisiana laws appear to violate a 1980 Supreme Court ruling that prohibits the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools, a ruling that supporters of having the commandments in public schools hope the 2026 court will reverse.
