Ten Commandments, abortion pills, castration: How Louisiana's new laws are pushing boundaries in the culture wars
In his first six months in office, Gov. Jeff Landry has pushed a broad conservative agenda that is altering Louisiana's cultural landscape, from abortion rights to criminal justice to education.
In his first six months in office, Gov. Jeff Landry has pushed a broad conservative agenda that is altering Louisiana’s cultural landscape, from abortion rights to criminal justice to education.
That culminated this week with his signing of the first law in the nation mandating that the Ten Commandments be posted in every public school classroom in the state.
“If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses,” Landry, a Republican, said at a bill signing ceremony in Lafayette on Wednesday.
Such a display, which sparked criticism among Democratic lawmakers and is already drawing the threat of legal challenges by civil liberties groups over its constitutionality, would have been unlikely in Louisiana before, even when a Republican, Bobby Jindal, last held the governor’s office eight years ago.
But now, the state is moving to the forefront of a culturally conservative wave typically associated with states such as Florida and Texas, said Pearson Cross, a political science professor at the University of Louisiana.
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